On the other side of the stage.
Claudia drew her twin swords, her feet propelled by explosive prana as she shot toward Rimcy like an arrow loosed from its bow.
Rimcy frowned slightly, extending two large pistol armaments from her arms. Fist-sized energy bullets erupted from the barrels as she continuously fired while darting back and forth, the projectiles forming two arcing trails in the air.
Yet even so, Rimcy felt it wasn't enough.
Claudia's speed was simply too fast. Though it couldn't outpace the bullets, her erratic movements made her nearly impossible to target—just as Rimcy locked on, Claudia would evade. Rimcy's computational abilities were formidable, but Claudia's combat data was scarce, with only one or two recorded battle instances available. Predicting Claudia's next move was simply beyond her.
Through relentless maneuvering, Claudia closed the distance in an instant, a sharp smile playing on her lips as she swung her sword toward the school emblem on Rimcy's chest.
Rimcy had anticipated this strike and reacted in time, but her physical speed was no match for Claudia's. Unable to dodge, she could only throw herself backward in a desperate attempt to avoid the blade.
Clang!
Suddenly, a defensive barrier materialized in front of Rimcy. Claudia's sword struck it without leaving so much as a crack.
"A defensive barrier? Isn't that guy's ability? He can even cast barriers on others?"
Claudia's eyes widened slightly, but her reflexes didn't falter. She immediately skirted around the barrier and pursued Rimcy.
Seizing the momentary reprieve, Rimcy activated the large equipment strapped to her back without hesitation.
A high-pitched whine accompanied the eruption of green light, reminiscent of nitrogen acceleration, as Rimcy's body suddenly lifted off the ground. The green glow expanded rapidly, propelling her entire frame into the air.
"She's equipped with flight gear?"
Claudia's sword sliced through empty air as she frowned at Rimcy's ascent.
With technological advancements, flight-capable engineering equipment had long been developed, and the Festa stage didn't prohibit such auxiliary gear. But flying was one thing—flying well was another. Few could master flight equipment, as most believed the effort was better spent enhancing their own abilities rather than mastering external tools. Thus, users were rare.
But when the user was a machine, that was a different story. Automatons inherently possessed adaptability to flight gear—they could input data into their central processors and learn to operate it far faster than any human.
Alde and Rimcy's true strength lay not in their mechanical durability, nor in their superior processing and reaction speeds, but in their learning ability, which far surpassed that of humans.
"This is practically cheating!"
Claudia grimaced as she watched Rimcy in the sky.
With air superiority secured, Rimcy could attack at her leisure from above. The real problem was that Claudia couldn't fly—she had no way to retaliate. Now, she was completely on the defensive.
However, the maximum height within the barrier was only ten meters. Given Claudia's physical abilities, jumping to this height wouldn't be a problem—though flexibility was a major concern. Once airborne, she'd likely become an easy target, but if she did jump, there might still be a chance to counterattack. For now, she remained calm, patiently waiting for an opportunity.
"Alde!"
But at that moment, from the battlefield they had deliberately avoided on the other side of the arena, a black shadow was sent flying backward like a bullet, crashing into the defensive barrier before coming to a stop.
Rimcy's usually composed expression changed drastically. Without even glancing at Claudia, she immediately abandoned her advantageous position here and flew toward Alde.
"...Incomprehensible."
Alde stood up from the ground, the metal on his flank crumbling away like rubble, leaving a fist-sized hole that exposed the sparking circuitry inside.
"How did you do that just now? Please tell me, I beg you!"
"Such eagerness to learn, huh?"
Roy retracted his fist, his expression indifferent as he shook his arm, which was visibly twisted at an unnatural angle.
"Not bad. Since you're so keen to learn, I'll tell you. You rely too much on your database."
The better Alde performed, the happier Roy became.
It meant the automatons possessed even greater potential than he had imagined.
"There's an issue with my database?"
"No, that's not what I meant. The data itself is fine."
Roy shook his head, his arm returning to its original form with a slight tremor. A pleased smile curved his lips.
"Humans have a fallacy called empiricism—it refers to being so bound by past experience that one becomes inflexible and makes mistakes. The same applies in combat. Data should only serve as a reference, not something to be wholly trusted. If you develop a fixed mindset and someone exploits it, the consequences can be dire."
"Simply put, you lack combat experience."
In the instant Roy threw his final punch, Alde had calculated the angle of the strike based on his database, fully believing he could block it. He never anticipated the last-moment change, and by the time he realized, it was already too late.
Unfortunately, in that split second, Roy could only land a hit on his flank. If his arm had twisted any further, Alde might have reacted in time.
Had their heights been similar, Roy might have already won.
With an AI's learning capabilities, a few more battles would have made it impossible to deceive him like this. Ultimately, Alde was still too young. Even if Ernesta had poured vast amounts of combat data into him, it was still just theoretical.
"I see now!"
Alde had an epiphany and bowed solemnly to Roy in gratitude.
"Rimcy, I'm fine—it seems declaring a one-minute victory against you was indeed overconfidence on my part. We lost just now, and I'll admit that mistake openly. Let's begin the second round!"
Not a trace of arrogance remained in Alde's tone—only seriousness.
He stretched out his hand, and a massive hammer, nearly as tall as he was, materialized in his grip like an Orga Lux.
Roy smiled faintly and beckoned to him calmly.
"Hah!"
Alde didn't find his movement impolite either. Raising his massive hammer, green light erupted from his heels as he charged forward with jet-like propulsion, swinging the hammer straight at Roy's head!
Roy sidestepped slightly, his gaze skimming past the enormous hammer that landed right in front of him.
Boom!
The hammer struck the ground with a dull, thunderous impact, cracking the earth like a spiderweb.
Roy delivered a swift kick to the hammer's body.
With a muffled thud, the massive hammer was sent spinning upward.
"Whoa—!"
Before Alde could even lift his hammer, the force sent him spinning along with it.
Before he could regain his balance, Roy kicked again, sending Alde tumbling backward like an overturned crate.
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