Chapter Twelve: Battle Between Mechas — The Protagonist’s Halo

"Fight like a true knight, you despicable fellow!" Colt shouted loudly.

"If it weren't for this one-on-one duel, I would never have agreed to your damned 'Thunder God' moniker!"

"Is that so? If you can beat me, I'll let you change it slowly. But can you really defeat someone with protagonist's luck like me?"

"W-what? Protagonist's luck? Where did that come from?"

"The author said so!"

"That's right, it's me."

"What the—? I surrender! By the way, author, where did you suddenly jump out from?"

"Damn it, you're cheating again!" Colt drew his combat blade and charged straight at Narukawa.

"Hey, hey, hey, I haven't even activated my mech yet!" Narukawa hurriedly summoned his mech, drew his twin blades and managed to block, but Colt's blade still scraped the side of Narukawa's armor.

"Strange, aren't you using twin blades?" Narukawa noticed Colt wielding only one blade and was quite curious.

"Sorry, I don't know how." With that, Colt spun around and hacked toward Narukawa once more. Narukawa leapt into the air, performed a backflip over Colt's head, and with a swift slash of his twin blades, left two gashes on Colt's mech.

Colt tumbled head over heels from the blow.

"Damn it, if you have the guts, stop jumping around!"

"Fine, but fighting like this won't get us anywhere. How about this: whoever breaks the other's shield first wins?"

"Fine! Prepare to die!" Colt charged at Narukawa again.

"Come on, do you have to grip your sword like a Japanese samurai?" Narukawa raised his twin blades to block Colt's strike.

"Let me show you something—you should do it like this when you've got dual weapons." Narukawa released his left hand, sidestepped Colt, and with a spinning slash from the left, struck Colt's back again, leaving a mark.

"Damn, not again!" Colt turned, only to see a blade sweep past his left side, knocking him to the ground once more.

Just as Colt was about to rise and continue the fight, he found Narukawa pointing a blade at him.

"Well? Admit defeat? If not, we go again."

"Of course not! Help me pull out the other blade, and let's keep going!" Narukawa helped Colt retrieve the blade and handed it back to him.

"Alright, let's continue!" Colt suddenly sprang to his feet.

"Then I won't hold back!" Narukawa leaped backward, then dashed forward with explosive speed, kicking Colt several meters away. Colt stabbed his blade into the ground, barely managing to stop himself, leaving two long grooves in the floor.

Before Colt could regain his footing, Narukawa charged again. Colt quickly leapt aside, trying to dodge, but Narukawa swept his twin blades outward, grazing Colt's mech and leaving another minor scratch.

"Wait, wait, stop! What's going on? You're way too strong! You must be cheating!"

"I've activated my protagonist's luck!"

"It was me who did it!"

"Author, you again!"

"Fine, I give up. I can't keep up with these cheats." Colt sheathed his blade.

"That's more like it." Narukawa retracted his mech and walked over, but Colt feigned surrender and suddenly pulled his blade, attempting to threaten Narukawa.

Unexpectedly, Narukawa slid beneath Colt's legs, sprang up behind him, kicked Colt to the ground, and drove his elbow hard into Colt's back. To their surprise, that strike forcibly retracted Colt's mech back into his wrist device. As Colt tried to turn and fight, he saw Narukawa holding a small dagger between his index and middle fingers.

"Didn't expect that, did you? I had a hidden weapon all along."

"Incredible! To defeat someone armored in a mech barehanded—you truly are someone chosen," said Wenxin, as she and Sergeant Tina entered the training room, applauding as they approached Narukawa and Colt.

"But you know, dueling without permission is against military regulations..."

— Author's Note —
It feels as if I could finish a chapter over the weekend, but this TK really racked his brains to come up with it—what a riot. Though it's a sci-fi novel, adding a bit of comedy now and then doesn't hurt. (Please read future chapters as if watching an anime, from a third-person perspective—sorry there's no actual animation.)