Seeing one of their leaders being flailed around like a damned fish out of water shook the Long kids to their cores.

Because in addition to the preposterousness of the situation, what I did at that moment was something that could only be explained two ways.

The first was torque. A heavy mecha would need to spin at extremely high speeds to generate the momentum and torque required to physically lift another heavy mecha the way I did.

And the whole country could see that I wasn't spinning at all when I grabbed Gerald Long's heavy mecha and lifted him right off the ground before flailing him around like a rag doll.

So that left the second way.

Which was that my mecha had a much higher grade power source. And to achieve that, there were yet two possible explanations.

One was that the National Mecha Pilot Academy accidentally placed a heavy mecha with a much higher power source which I coincidentally got my hands on.

And as I remember, this was the explanation the National Mecha Pilot Academy went with, and which the Federation approved after a lengthy "investigation".

But at that moment, the investigation hadn't begun, and the minds of the entire nation were aswirl with the potential that it was due to the second reason.

That I was a prodigy mecha architect!

That I had fiddled with my practice heavy mecha's power source and configurated it to a much higher rate of production.

That would explain my near impenetrable armor, as well as my ridiculous power output.

With just enhanced armor previously, most analysts were happy to look for external reasons as to how and why I was able to bump up my mecha's armor rating.

A hack perhaps, on the reactive armor's activation trigger? Or a ground breaking barrier technology?

But now with my power output skyrocketing to ridiculous levels, the unthinkable finally started to become thinkable in light of my unbelievable performance.

That I was a very, very much awaited and much desired genius mecha architect!

And in a country very much pressured by the USAA and the European Empire's might in the form of their Gold Mechas, a prodigy mecha architect was worth at least a hundred prodigy mecha pilots!

All the clans, families and organizations were very clear on that point. In fact, one of the reasons why the Longs were so powerful was because they once had a very successful mecha architect, one of only three in the entire country!

The entire arena, and very possibly, the entire country erupted in cries of shock and roars of excitement!

The Long kids, being the creme of the crop of their generation, of course understood in a flash what I represented.

Future trouble.

If I was a prodigy mecha architect, there was no way that I would remain without solid backing that could easily rival or even surpass them.

And if that's the case, then I could very well be a metal plate that they could not afford to kick!

Victor Long is a decisive person. He is someone who is able to very quickly make hard decisions that would leave many adults paralyzed with indecision, and he had been that way since young.

That day and that very moment was no exception.

"Are you a mecha architect?" He asked me abruptly.

Of course I had no idea what he was talking about. But I'll be damned if I let him know that. So I acted like I did.

"So what if I am? Doesn't change the fact that I will kill you and all of your clan members here today." I replied coldly.

At that moment, however, before Victor Long could reply, a trio of rifle beams came flying out from somewhere to my right!

Like a spiteful boy throwing an egg while his school mate on stage was receiving an applause from the rest of the school, a mecha with what passed as an ultra-heavy rifle in the world of practice mechas had fired three consecutive shots at me.

And those three shots were all aimed at the unarmored inner joint of my arm!

Immediately, I knew that it was the same evil person who shot at the girl I had determined to save earlier.

It had the same sneaky angle and the same powerful shot.

"Gotcha. You're dead, asshole." My eyes glinted with anticipation of revenge and my lips curled into a satisfied smile as I tracked the rifle shots back to a medium mecha around five hundred meters away, hiding from among a cluster of medium mechas.historical

"Victor Long. I will come back for you after I am done with this bastard!" I shouted as I ate up the three powerful rifle shots without bothering to dodge or even block them.

I threw Gerald Long's mecha down to the ground and charged towards Jaden Rushblood!

Yes, that was Jaden Rushblood and his highly irritating clan.

Of all the heroes beloved by the nation that stood tall during her hour of need, I like him the least, and that Grand Melee was only the beginning of our rocky relationship.

Still, he remained faithful to the nation, and that is already much more than I can say about many other illustrious people.

Jaden Rushblood, after all was said and done, was a patriot, and by that fact alone, he had the qualification to be called my brother.

However at that moment, he stood squarely at the top of my kill list.

Five hundred meters could be very far away or it could be really close.

For a heavy mecha seeking to get close to a medium mecha or a light mecha, it was an eternity. As a general rule, medium and light mechas cannot be caught by heavy mechas.

The heavy mechas were too.. heavy.

However, for a heavy mecha powered by my red mecha core? It was but a few seconds worth of running.

Boom. Boom. Crash! Boom. Boom. Crash!

I thundered across the arena at high speed and barreled my way towards Jaden Rushblood like a bull charging across a field filled with sheep. The mechas that failed to get out of my way fast enough were completely "destroyed".

To their credit, the Rushblood clan stood their ground and three mechas with green light shining down upon them stepped forward to challenge me.

Like the Longs, they too had three kids within the top hundred.

However, unlike the Longs, they didn't have a single heavy mecha in their group of thirty.

And strangely, they were all medium mechas.

Crash!

Just as I flung the final mecha that stood in my way away, the Rushbloods finally made their move.

That moment was the moment that I learnt not to underestimate the enemy, no matter how powerful and how much of an edge you have.

VROOOO!

The Rushbloods fired up their flight modules, and all thirty mechas shot up straight into the sky!

As one, they took out their rifles and aimed them at me.

"Fire." Jaden Rushblood ordered his clan mates calmly.