The ant mech moved to cut off the retreat of the fly mech. Xiao didn’t want her two opponents to meet up if the fly mech pilot chose to regroup. To her surprise, the fly mech focused solely on her ally with no indication of backing away. Having seen how the fly mech moved, the young woman got an idea of where the fly mech would be and went to intercept. To her surprise, her ant mech was able to get right behind the fly mech without any problems. With the light machine gun safety off, she unleashed rapid bursts as she stuck behind the fly mech.

How…how is that possible?

Because her mech faced the rear of the fly mech, the light machine gun bursts ripped through the armor and caused multiple small explosions that effectively blew off the left torso and right arm of the opposing mech. The result reminded Xiao that the rear armor was at most half as thick as the frontal armor. Unless it was absolutely necessary, a pilot should never expose the mech’s rear armor to foes. The components of the fly mech couldn’t have been blown off if she wasn’t using the light machine gun. Critical chance only applied to structure and, with the number of ammo she used in the burst mode, she was guaranteed at least one critical hit.

“Watch out behind you!”

Vesna’s warning came too late as Xiao’s mech toppled over. As soon as she got her bearings, the young woman checked her mech’s status on the screen to her right.

<

Left Torso: Missing

Left Arm: Missing

>

What just happened?

Xiao got her mech back up and started moving. Regardless of what caused her mech to lose its left torso and arm, she had to keep moving to make her mech harder to hit. After delivering the impressive damage on the fly mech, she stopped her mech which gave the beetle mech an opening.

“I just zoomed in! The beetle mech is armed with an AC2. I repeat! The beetle mech is armed with an AC2.”

“Where is the fly mech now?” asked Xiao as she maneuvered her mech to face the beetle mech.

“Our ally mech has landed solid hits with the experimental flamers. The fly mech won’t be in the battle for a while.”

The young woman focused on the beetle mech when she noticed it firing a projectile. Going with the assumption that her opponent was aiming for her mech’s legs, she used the jump jets to gain some altitude. Her ant mech didn’t go very high but it was enough to narrowly dodge the AC2 projectile.

“I know AC ammo is strong but when were they strong enough to blow off a torso in one go?”

“I’m checking with Wattan now. He’s double checking the footage right now.”

Xiao could hear a lot of shouting through her headset but she still had to focus on the match. The beetle mech was still targeting her mech and she had lost the surprise factor of her jump jets. She had to assume her opponent would take her equipment into account before another shot was fired.

“Wattan just confirmed that the beetle mech is using slug rounds.”

Xiao couldn’t believe her ears. Slug AC ammo was somewhat common for medium mechs due to their ability to knock mechs down. The cost of slug AC ammo made the ammo prohibitive for light mechs except for those with credits to burn. Due to the heavy impact of this ammo, a light mech would lose components like hers following a clean impact, unlike standard AC rounds that would do solid damage to the component armor.

“How much ammo can the beetle mech carry?”

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

“Four if we’re lucky. Triple that if the Beetle mech has not much else.”

The young woman cursed her bad luck for facing such a foe. Her mech lacked the speeds to avoid the AC2 reliably while she couldn’t do anything from far away due to her weapon’s effective range. She had to keep moving when something caught her eyes.

I’ll hide behind that then!

After abruptly changing directions, her mech sprinted in the opposite direction. Xiao could sense the AC2 was locking onto her but she still kept sprinting. A few seconds later, her ant mech managed to get into position where the fly mech was between her and the beetle mech.

Will you shoot through your ally mech too?

As if in response, the beetle mech fired its autocannon. The projectile shot right through the fly mech cockpit and came straight at her. Unlike last time, Xiao kept her mech moving and that, combined with the projectile trajectory being slightly altered by the hit with the fly mech, allowed her ant mech to avoid a hit.

“Is the fly mech pilot…”

“Yes, there is no way that pilot is still alive.”

“How…how can one do that to a fellow pilot, especially one from the same organization?”

“Keep your focus! Your ally mech has gotten behind the beetle now.”

As soon as the other ant mech was next to the beetle mech, it unleashed its experimental flamers. Seconds later, the hostile mech lowered its AC2. With this opening, Xiao immediately maneuvered her mech straight at her opponent. With her arrival, the ally mech circled around to the front to continue with the flamers, ensuring that the beetle mech couldn’t cool down. Facing the beetle’s rear, the young woman first focused her remaining light machine gun on the beetle’s left torso. After concentrated fire, the torso blew off and took with it the AC2. Then, she focused on the right leg until the beetle toppled over.

“The match is over! The beetle pilot resigned from the match.”

Despite this being a victory, Xiao didn’t feel joy. All she had replaying in her head was the AC projectile shooting through the cockpit, killing the pilot instantly. With that in mind, she wondered if the shot that hit her was aimed for the left torso or the center torso.

That could have been me as well…

“Xiao! Xiao, can you read me? Xiao, can you read me?”

“Sorry! I’m still processing the death earlier. It feels unreal when you’re in the thick of things.”

“You should get used to it,” said Wattan.

“Aren’t there rules banning the killing of other pilots?”

“Those are for tournaments only, missus! Rules for other matches are far more lax as there isn’t enough attention on them unless it involves a promising pilot.”

Xiao already knew the challenges new pilots faced in order to make a name for themselves. They often took terrible jobs and made horrific sacrifices for a single chance. Now, she realized that death was another thing they must overcome. All the talk of death was making her sick so she changed the topic.

“Wattan, I’m sorry for the left torso and arm. I’m creating more work for you!”

“No worries, missus! The beetle pilot is a good shot so I doubt you could have dodged with your back to him. For your first win, this is honestly pretty good!”

The congratulations through the headset that followed warmed her heart. Pushing aside all the negatives, Xiao piloted her mech back to the mechbay. As she exited, all the people she had met were there. They waited for her to reach the floor before they tossed her into the air three times in celebration. A small feast would happen later that day but Xiao remembered very little of what happened after her victory. She collapsed onto her bed and slept until noon of the following day. Then, Vesna helped her get ready for their ride to the space port as they needed to return back to their base.

“What salvage did we get?” Xiao asked Vesna.

In terms of rewards, pilots generally didn’t get much say. The designer usually called the shot and, if the pilot was lucky, the individual would be consulted on the matter. The young woman wondered what Twan picked for their first victory. Depending on the salvage pool, they could get something special.

“We got two experimental flamers. Those were the only things Twan wouldn’t send straight to the scrapyard.”

“And about the repair cost?”

Xiao could only imagine the bill that came with the damage but Vesna said that she mustn’t worry. Apparently, their sponsors more than covered for the repairs so they basically made a tidy profit from the match.

“You should think about your next match in a week!”

“A week?”

She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. They barely finished one match and the next one was already scheduled. Despite being told that the next one was co-op with the same ally mech, she wouldn’t have minded a short break. When she tried to use the repairs as an excuse, Vesna told her that they had a second mech if the ant mech couldn’t be repaired in time.

“What’s the second mech?”

“A hornet mech!”