But for all the surprising accuracy and flying skills of the Rushbloods, they were, after all, medium mechas ambushed by heavy mechas.

The Longs had the element of surprise, and the advantage of preparing against them.

Plus, although not as good as the Rushbloods, all of the Long family pilots were still pretty good shots themselves, and they quickly established a steady rhythm.

"Focus fire and defensive postures." Victor Long commanded as he expertly shot down a Rushblood mecha.

His group immediately responded by hunkering down and aiming at pre-selected targets in clusters of three.

It was a devastating strategy for which the Rushbloods had no answer.

Within seconds, ten more Rushblood mechas fell while taking out only three Long mechas.

The battle was as good as over.

One of the critical traits that a good commander must have is knowing when to retreat and salvage as much as possible out of a loss.

The Rushbloods had definitely lost, and a good commander would instantly lead his men to a fighting retreat to live and fight another day.

Jaden Rushblood was a good commander, and he would have definitely called for the retreat.. If he wasn't just a chunk of powered down mecha at that moment, of course.

I had maintained one eye on him, and had instantly fired off one flying mecha (a different one, of course. It would be intentiontal torture of I had picked the same mecha to fire off as the first one. The poor kid would have definitely fainted, if he hadn't already.) at him the moment I caught him being distracted by the Longs.

BAM!!

My flying mecha had smashed into him with a very satisfactory bam and his darkened mecha had crashed very deservedly to the ground!

"Hmph. Take that you sneaky bastard. That's for killing.. uh. What's her name? The girl I was protecting!!" I shouted at him.

With Jaden Rushblood out of the picture, the rest of the Rushbloods lasted for less than a minute.

And by the time the dust cleared from the last Rushblood mecha that hit the ground, twenty seven Long heavy mechas still stood.

The Longs were good.

Very good.

I turned and walked towards Victor Long.

Boom. Boom. Boom.

He turned to face me and gestured for his "men" to stand down.

"I told you I will kill all of you. Helping me kill the Rushbloods does not change that at all." I growled at him when I reached his position.

My right arm shot out and grabbed him by the neck.

"We started off at the wrong foot. The Longs wish to build a relationship with you. Do as you will. Whatever you do, we will not retaliate. Consider this a small part of our attempt to make amends." Victor Long said quietly.historical

CRACK!!!

I crushed his neck and took out the prodigy most predicted to win the whole Grand Melee with a squeeze of my fingers!

"Make amends?" I scoffed loudly. "Dead men make no amends! You would have died even if you hadn't stood still like that."

I flung his mecha aside and moved on to the rest of the Long family.

Slowly.

"You will not retaliate? Truly? Let's put those words to the test." I smirked at them as I walked towards the remaining star of the Long family group.

Hailey Long.

Every single Long heavy mecha stood still and unmoving before me, including hers.

I stretched out my hand and gripped her neck as I had done to Victor Long.

I remember staring at her mecha and the illustrious green glow that covered it, and how the green glow faded with startling alacrity as I clenched my fist once more.

Crack!

Hailey Long's heavy mecha powered down and darkened.

I released my grip on her and allowed her to crumple to the ground.

I had to say, I was impressed.

Impressed by their willingness to pay the price, just to get into my good books.

Not that I was willing to forgive and forget so easily, hell no.

But whatever they did, it was the right step forward.

One at a time, I went down the line and "killed" the Long family mechas which had come to my rescue mere minutes earlier.

Crack.

Crack.

Crack.

At first, I had steeled my heart and viciously crushed their necks, telling myself it was a deserved ending for the mega bullies.

But there was a very discomforting feeling in killing not only completely unmoving targets, but also those that had worked hard to save me earlier.

Although they did commit the atrocious act of bullying my friend, their willingness to "die" and forfeit the competition right there and then struck a chord within my heart.

By the tenth dead Long mecha, my roiling fury had dissipated to a mere simmering boil.

By the twentieth, the fire had gone out of my anger.

And by the twenty seventh and last mecha, I was almost reluctant to kill him.

But kill him I did.

Crack!

The whole arena was silent as I executed the final mecha of arguably the strongest group in the Grand Melee.

If the Lins made a name for themselves as ferocious warriors led by a shrewd leader, and the Rushbloods as incredible sharpshooters, then the Longs made a name for themselves as being utterly devoted to their cause and their family, even to the point of paying the highest price in the event.

They were ruthless to their victims and their enemies, but they were ruthless to themselves too.

They had all the markings of an extremely wealthy and powerful family with a well thought and even more well implemented training system.

Arrogant bullies, but also viciously focused on their goals. Hateful as they were, one had to admire their guts.

"They would be very solid comrades to have in a fight." I thought to myself. "But I will have to beat the damn arrogance out of them first before I will have anything to do with them."

My eyes narrowed lightly as I remembered what they did to Tes.

"Hmph. Good riddance." I regained a bit of my bluster.

I turned around to face the rest of the remaining participants.

A little more than two thousand remained.

"Well? Are you all going to stand there and let me kill you like I did the Longs? Or do you want to go home to suck on your momma's titties now?" I shouted at them.