Chapter 3: The Heart of a Thug, Section 10

As a mech personally modified by Kurokami, Shouki had far too many outstanding features. Though in Kurokami’s eyes it was still considered inferior in many aspects, in this world of magic, its performance was enough to make even the best mech modders cry. As for its most distinctive feature, it wasn’t its sharp weapons, nor its wind-like speed, nor its pitifully scarce armor.
It was its weight—an astonishingly light weight.
By integrating numerous components and combining shooting and combat systems, Shouki’s own weight remained only 68 tons due to the significant reduction in armor. That was nearly one-third lighter than the most common combat magic mechs!
What does that mean? Anyone who knows about mechs would understand.
Faster speed, more agile performance, more stable operation, and greater potential for expansion—the advantages were countless. Even this heavy modification was possible only because Shouki’s engine had plenty of spare capacity.
Yet, as the saying goes, fortune and misfortune go hand in hand. The reduced weight made Shouki somewhat weak in close-quarters combat. After all, a bare fist, no matter how hard it’s swung, can’t compare to the power of a heavy sledgehammer weighing hundreds of kilograms…
So Kurokami could only use one tactic—a trick he once considered rather unrefined.
“Return to Void!”
“Bang!!!!”
The hard alloy claws spun like a whirlwind, gathering all of Shouki’s power. The screeching sound as they tore through space was almost enough to pierce eardrums. Harry didn’t even have time to react—the terrifying blow landed from below, slightly angled, but firmly on him.
With that muffled sound, Blue Star’s tough armor was torn apart like tofu. Countless pieces of armor, large and small, were lifted by this unstoppable force and sent soaring into the sky along with Blue Star’s massive body.
Yes, even Blue Star itself.
No one could have imagined that such a small mech could possess such immense power—enough to fling Blue Star, which was much larger than it, into the air. There was no sign of strain even with Blue Star’s huge missile launchers. Even more astonishingly, it was sent flying into the sky.

It was like a beautiful boxing match—a short man using a combination of sidesteps and hook punches to send a hulking giant twice his size flying into the air. It was filled with a dissonant beauty of violence. If someone had recorded the little guy’s performance and sent it to the mental network, it would surely have caused a massive uproar.

Unfortunately, for Harry, the pilot of Blue Planet, this was nothing short of a disaster.

No, it was the beginning of a disaster.

“Boom!!”

A massive flow of fiery red energy surged out from the nozzle behind the little guy, instantly giving it upward momentum. Under Harry’s horrified gaze, it soared into the air and chased after Blue Planet, which was still floating. A steel hand suddenly reached out and grabbed its ankle!!

“You!! What are you doing!!?” Harry shouted in shock. In his panic, he couldn’t even maintain the basic stability of his mech. No matter how experienced a warrior he was, he never expected to end up in such a situation. How could his usual training prepare him for this?

But he didn’t need to shout anymore. Because in the next moment, the hand that had grabbed Blue Planet’s ankle unleashed another force that made his heart tremble. It pulled Blue Planet’s massive body back from the air and slammed it hard onto the ground…

“Boom!!”

The ground shook violently. The area within a hundred meters trembled as if there were an earthquake, with even wave-like ripples forming. Countless pieces of soil and plant roots shot into the air, forming a small but intimidating fountain. Blue Planet’s huge body had no chance to resist and was violently thrown onto the ground, sinking deep into it.

Following closely behind it was the black mech, like a raging storm.

“Bang bang bang bang…”

It was like a violent thug. The little guy’s subsequent attacks had nothing to do with any sense of decency. It simply stood on Blue Planet’s body and violently stamped on its control center with one foot, repeatedly and swiftly. The mech’s own weight, combined with the deliberate force, dealt Blue Planet an unprecedented blow.

On its chest, the main armor sank deeply, even showing signs of tearing. Sparks burst out from the cracks. The crystal circuits inside the magic mech became wildly chaotic. Even the elemental entities responsible for providing power in the engine began to revolt.

But these were merely superficial injuries. For Harry, the pilot of Blue Planet, these damages paled in comparison to another thing the little guy had done to him—insult.

Just like the elegant appearance of the magic mecha. Almost every battle involving mecha pilots involves people with good manners. The fights usually take the form of conventional head-on battles. Where has one ever seen such reckless attacks? It’s simply like kids fighting!!
But it’s undeniable that such attack methods pose an extremely great threat to the pilots. In just a few moments, Blue Star’s chest armor was severely damaged; the highly deformed shell exerted intense pressure on the internal components and optical circuits, even affecting the overall control system. By the time the brat stepped down for the last time, Blue Star had completely lost its ability to move. Even the cockpit area showed signs of deformation.
This was still thanks to the black-haired man showing mercy. Otherwise, if the attacks had been focused on the waist where the cockpit was located, even Harry, with his steel-like skeleton, would have died.
“Warning: The machine is overheating, energy loss exceeds the warning limit!”
Red lights flashed, casting an eerie glow on the black-haired man’s exposed chin. After launching the most intense assault, the brat finally reached the brink of collapse. If the fierce fighting didn’t stop, it might cause irreversible damage to the machine itself.
However, it seemed like it was already over…
“Hmph, really useless stuff… The parts these days are really poor quality.” As he drove the brat away from Blue Star, the black-haired man slightly raised his head and let out a long sigh. Then he reached out to turn on the loudspeaker.
“Hey, you guy pretending to be dead down there, get up. If you don’t, you’ll lose your chance.”
“Who the hell are you??” From his battered state, Harry also turned on his loudspeaker and shouted angrily.
“Oh? Me?” The black-haired man’s lips twitched as he flashed a gentle smile. “Of course, I’m…”
“A thug…”