CHAPTER SIXTY NINE

There was an awkward pause. Jason didn't even know what to say.

The other pilot had a woman's voice, and Jason didn't have too many female friends on the server. He'd only talked to Wendy and Stephanie, and even then, he'd only just met them.

For a brief moment, Jason thought it might have been someone from his days as a One Star Boss, but he didn't think so.

This other player's voice was very distinctive.

She tsked mockingly.

"You don't know me?!"

It was a woman's voice, but not one that Jason recognized.

The other woman had a pretty unusual voice.

Simply put, it was incredibly annoying.

Her voice was weirdly chirpy and shrill in a way that was totally jarring. On top of that, she inadvertently dragged on the end of her sentences.

Her "me" ended in a strange sort of whine.

She almost sounded like the stereotype of a bratty little sister from a cartoon.

"Come on! Why don't you recognize me?"

Despite her words, she didn't sound annoyed.

Instead, her voice was mocking and jocular. Unfortunately, the underlying friendly tone didn't do much to help the irritating sound.

Jason frowned.

The girl spoke again. She had an obvious grin on her face. It almost sounded like she was making fun of herself.

"I'll give you some time to figure it out?"

Jason wanted to throw his hands in the air.

Why would this person beg him for a battle then make him guess who she was?

It would make a lot more sense to fight her and get over it.

Jason prepared to attack, but then Stephanie called out and stopped him. She even put her bulky artillery Mech in the way of his charging beam rifle.

"Wait! Wait! I want to find out who this is! You should guess who it is?"

Stephanie beamed from ear to ear.

"It'll be fun!"

Before long, the rest of the BAG Guild was also cheering for Jason to figure out who the girl was.

"Wait!"

"It'll be fun!"

"Don't shoot her!"

"Wait! I'm curious."

Danny glanced over at him. He had a bemused smile on his face.

"Okay. I really want you to figure out who this is too. Why is someone stalking you for a fight?"

Jason sighed and turned to the girl.

Truth be told, he wanted to find out who this person was too, but he sucked at these kinds of guessing games. When it came to stuff like this, his thinking was totally one-dimensional.

"Okay, I mean...you're probably with the people who attacked us here the other day. You're using the same Mech color."

The woman clucked her tongue. Her voice had the same half-whining and half-mocking tone as before.

"Come on! That's too obvious! You've met me before that too."

Jason shook his head and tried to think. He sent a message to Danny on the private line.

"I definitely don't know who that is, but she seems strong..."

He pointed at her machine.

"I've never seen a build like that before...it definitely took a ridiculous amount of crafting."

Now that Jason had tried crafting himself, he had boundless respect for a well-built machine. Jason was pretty proud of his ejectable Assault Armor, but his opponent's build was on a totally different level.

Just the way the other machine had hidden itself revealed the pilot's skills.

Jason and the BAG Guild had carefully checked the room before moving forward.

However, the other player's machine wore a strange cloak that shifted colors with every second. The powerful device had perfectly hidden his machine.

The chameleon cloak had only revealed the other machine when the pilot wanted it to be revealed.

Illusions and stealth abilities were extremely difficult to craft, which was a big reason why the Illusionists were such an infamous guild.

Although the chameleon cloak sounded like just another rare drop, it couldn't be found on any map - it had to be crafted by hand by grafting countless refractive panels together until they'd become a single fluid object.

The pilot's machine had a strange and shambling gait - almost like a hunchback.

While Jason could tell that the other Mech still had roughly humanoid proportions and limbs - with a head, two arms, and two legs, the Mech's now brown cloak covered up its entire body.

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The tightly wrapped armor shroud greatly reduced its speed, turning the slender Mech's footsteps into a slow and steady shuffle. The bizarre structure reminded Jason of a little kid who'd wrapped his blankets around himself during a pillow fight.

But even though most of the machine was obscured and hindered by its cloak, Jason could tell that it was very well-built.

Despite the unusual structure, Jason immediately recognized the other Mech's Class and Abilities.

The skinny and frail general frame combined with the telltale luminescent glow screamed out its identity as a Spell Titan. The shining Mana Gatherer Spikes were so bright that they shone past the heavy cloak.

Taylor's Spell Titan had already been impressive, but this was a totally different degree of power. The Mana Gatherer spikes had been flawlessly crafted and wired together.

As the Mech shifted, Jason saw a strange image on the other Mech's shoulder. The hunchbacked machine's right shoulder displayed a miniature painting of a knife stabbed through a cloak.

Jason had seen that logo a couple of times before, but only on streams.

None of his lower-ranking opponents in the first round of the Tournament of Assassins had been qualified to use it. Only the final boss had a personal logo, and they'd used their own arms rather than the guild's.

He frowned and pointed at the scratched-out picture.

"Look at that..."

Danny frowned too. He was just as confused as Jason.

"She was kicked out of the Illusionists?"

He turned back to the group.

"Hey, does anyone know someone in the Illusionists?"

The answers were all negative.

Then he caught himself.

"I mean, someone kicked out of the Illusionists. Not someone who is still in the Illusionists."

The answers were even more confused. Stephanie and the others started laughing.

"No, why would we possibly know someone like that?"

The small hint just confused Jason even further.

The logo was definitely real.

Unlike in other games, it was very difficult to fake allegiance to a clan.

Faking allegiance in other games was as simple as changing a player name to include a clan tag. Some players weren't even trying to fake allegiance at all - they were just fans hoping to show their loyalty by adding the tag of their favorite guild or esports organization to their name.

In fact, Jason had recognized Owen due to his Dragon Tamers clan tag. His Smoulderhulk also displayed the guild's insignia, a nesting dragon sitting over a large egg.

Overdrive's system went beyond mere screenname changes - it added a patented insignia in addition to a clan tag.

Each top-ranked guild had access to its own special logo, and the Overdrive Corporation ensured that players couldn't fake them.

The Workshop scanned every machine's coat of paint before allowing them out of the player workshop. If they weren't a registered member of the guild, they wouldn't be allowed to use the logo.

The Illusionist's logo was exceptionally difficult to fake.

Befitting the clan's reputation, their logo was highly complex with countless little details and intricacies. The knife and cloak were drawn by writing the Illusionists over and over again in cursive.

However, the intricate logo had been scratched off of the machine.

Why was someone kicked out of the Illusionists trying to fight him?

Had the Prince of Thieves pilot been kicked out of the guild after losing to him?

That was a possibility, but it didn't make much sense.

While most players were eliminated in the Tournament of Assassins, there were always pilots who made it past the first round. The Illusionists were cutthroat, but they wouldn't kick someone out for such a poor reason.

Jason sighed and activated the general line.

Instead of talking privately with his team, he was now using the Red Minerva's speakers.

"Alright. I give up. Can you tell me who you are now and why you want to fight?"

The other woman laughed loudly. Her laugh was shrill, blaring, and, in Jason's uncharitable opinion, even more annoying than her voice.

However, her voice gradually changed as she spoke.

"Yeah, I was cheating. There was no way you could guess who I was. Is this more familiar?"

She spoke on the general line, and the rest of the BAG Guild jumped back in surprise.

Before, the other pilot's voice had been high-pitched and very girly. Now, her voice had suddenly become an extremely deep and scratchy baritone.

Jason recognized that voice, and his suspicions were completely confirmed when the hunchbacked machine shrugged slightly, revealing a crossbow held in their right hand.

Danny started.

"Crossbow? She's the player we beat in the first round."

Danny laughed.

"She was pretty damn good. Now that I've played with you for longer, I know it takes a lot to get the drop on you."

The Lucky Duck's pilot made a face.

"Say, I probably shouldn't be calling her, her, right? If they are using a voice changer, you can't say what their gender is..."

Jason shook his head and laughed.

"No way. It's definitely a girl. If I had an annoying voice like that, I'd want to use a modulator too."

Unfortunately, Jason had forgotten that he'd switched to the public line.

The Red Minerva blared the message out to the entire group.

Although the Red Minerva was a living creature rather than a conventional robot, her throat and tongue couldn't form the words needed for human speech.

Instead, the machine had a speaker installed in its mouth.

The other pilot let out a shocked high-pitched gasp.

She didn't have the voice modulator turned on at the time, so her squeal sounded like she was stabbed.

"COME ON! I need to use this, so people take me seriously! I'm twenty-five years old, and I sound like a dwarf or something!"

As she spoke, her hunchbacked Spell Titan withdrew its finger and pointed at Jason accusingly.

Unlike Stephanie, who'd imitated her real-life movements inadvertently, this other machine was clearly acting for comical effect.

The Mech jumped from side to side in a ridiculous manner. The fine control demonstrated the pilot's skills. While a human could easily dance in an exaggerated fashion, the moves were very difficult to emulate on a frail Spell Titan.

Now that Jason understood who his opponent was, he raised his machine's arms and raised the harpoons. The other Mech was thin and frail. It'd be weak to his close combat wrestling moves.

The other pilot's words were friendly and joking, but he remembered what had happened in the Tournament of Assassins.

The crossbow-wielding Mech's companion - the large machine that itself had been an enormous crossbow - had spitefully called out right when Jason was about to win the match. On top of that, this player had sent a previous group of attackers after Jason as well.

If she kicked Jason back to the spawning station, it would only be a mild annoyance.

However, he'd prefer to avoid that mild annoyance if possible - he didn't want Stephanie to wait before battling the Knight of Friendship.

"I'm guessing you're here for revenge?"

Jason frowned.

"Did you get kicked out of the Illusionists after losing?"

It didn't really make sense why a member of the Illusionists would enter the competition, but someone who lost in the first round to an unknown like Jason or Danny would probably get fired as a high-ranking guild member. They would lose the ability to use the insignia, and they'd get demoted to a Grunt.

Once again, the other pilot made her Mech imitate real-life movements. It seemed like this kind of fine control was her way of showing off.

In this case, the machine shook its head dramatically from side to side.

"Nah!"

But then she stopped and nodded.

"Wait, yes!"

She paused after the contradictory messages and started rapidly correcting herself.

"Okay, wait, sorry about that. No, I'm not here for revenge, but yes, I did get fired. It's a long story. They let me be a higher-ranking member because of my brother, but then some other stuff..."

She trailed off.

"Look. I'll tell you after the battle. It seems like you're pretty tired of talking. I was pretty mad when you beat me. You know, I thought I had the drop on you...but I was watching when you took out the guys I asked to fight you. You're good!"

She pointed at Danny.

"You're good too! I'd love to battle you after Devourer22."

She raised her Mech's hands and pointed at Jason.

"I wanted to keep my main Mech secret for the first round of the Tournament of Assassins, but I was eliminated before I could show it off. I wanted to test my skills against you when going all out. How about a sparring match?"

Jason eagerly agreed.

"Let's do it!"

Traveling across open space just to get a rematch...that was an attitude he could respect!

The BAG Guild was just as excited.

"Yo, Jason! Good luck!"

"I can't wait to watch you fight!"

Stephanie laughed.

"You better win...I don't think I can beat the Knight without you!"

The BAG Guild stepped up to the next floor, leaving the open space available for Jason and his opponent.

Danny called down, serving as a referee as he counted them off.

"Three - two - one - go!"

Both Mechs shifted to action, and the fight began.