96. Gun and Chainsaw

“Holy hell! It’s that one!” Chen Shang could not help blurting out an oath when he heard the announcer’s words.

He had already known what the surprise segment of this grand arena tournament would be. But the randomness of this year’s special event was far too high, and it would also break the teams apart, so even he could not guarantee victory with complete confidence.

For that reason, he had analyzed each of the dozen or so underground arenas that might appear in the surprise round one by one. In the end, he concluded that as long as it was not the No. 01 deathmatch ring, he had better than a ninety percent chance of talking his opponents into a daze, crushing them utterly, and, while clearing the player trial, taking out the opposing side at the same time.

However, the No. 01 deathmatch ring was the one arena where cooperation was impossible. It explicitly required the two contestants to slaughter one another, which meant his talent for sweet-talking people was utterly useless.

Most importantly, Chen Shang was at a disadvantage in close combat. He usually relied on his teammates. If he happened to be matched against some melee specialist, then he might as well smile and call it over.

And yet, even after accounting for every possibility, he had still run into the worst possible scenario.

The moment the announcer finished speaking, the sound of a round being chambered echoed from the far side of the arena. The gun-borg glared at Chen Shang like a predator, ready to strike at any moment.

“Oh, right, terribly sorry—there was one little thing I forgot to mention!” The male announcer suddenly came back to add:

“To prevent the audience from getting caught in the crossfire, no ranged weapons of any kind may be used in this match. Only melee weapons provided by the organizers are allowed. They’re placed around the ring, so feel free to go pick one up.”

“Both contestants must be good children and obey the rules, all right? Otherwise I’ll have no choice but to mow you down with the dozen machine guns in the ceiling, and wish you a much better next life.”

The male announcer’s voice vanished completely, leaving only the two contestants and the ring of mechanical mock spectators around the underground coliseum.

After hearing the rule, the gun-borg quietly engaged the safety on his weapon and assumed a fighting stance for close quarters combat.

Chen Shang, meanwhile, let out a breath of relief. If firearms had been allowed, he figured he would have been turned into minced meat within five seconds.

Since those were the rules, there was nothing left to discuss. Chen Shang casually picked up a crowbar from the floor, while the gun-borg raised the stocks mounted on his body and charged.

Cyborgs possessed physical abilities far beyond ordinary humans, so even after discarding all his firepower, the gun-borg still had the edge in melee combat.

Bang!

The stock and the crowbar smashed into each other. The tremendous recoil jolted Chen Shang’s hand painfully, nearly knocking the crowbar from his grasp.

“So much strength!” Chen Shang complained inwardly.

This gun-borg’s strength was probably in the range of five to six, and that was judging by adult standards.

Pressing his advantage, the gun-borg swung again, bringing another stock crashing down toward Chen Shang.

Chen Shang had no choice but to raise the crowbar horizontally to block.

Bang!

There was another dull thud. Chen Shang was sent flying by the tremendous force, and the crowbar bent and warped under the blow.

“Cough, cough...” Chen Shang sat half-sprawled on the ground, his hands trembling uncontrollably.

The gap in strength between the two sides was far too great. Even the host, who had switched the screen to their match, could only shake his head and say with regret:

“What a pity. The strategist from the Fox, Greatsword, and Glasses team has actually been matched against Hayakawa Aki of the Gun Devil team in Arena No. 01.”

Even a layman like Flavie could already see it: this match was extremely unfavorable to the strategist.

This contestant had shown no eye-catching combat ability during the competition, so he was presumably the team’s brains and support, not someone suited to frontal battle.

By contrast, the leader of the Gun Devil team was a formidable cyborg. Even without guns, he could still overwhelm an ordinary human with sheer physical prowess.

Faced with a match whose outcome could be guessed from the beginning, Flavie could only switch the broadcast to other arenas and hand the spotlight to those with more suspense.

“How can there be a segment like this?”

Sitting on the sofa, Chiyo Yasougi clenched her fists. Her sharp gaze looked as though it might tear that ridiculous announcer to pieces.

With no outside help whatsoever, Chen Shang, still a high school student, had been forced to face a cyborg who lived by the edge of a blade. It was a dead end that seemed completely impossible to break.

Chiyo suddenly stood up from the sofa and took out her phone without hesitation.

“Miss, please calm down.” At that moment, Sakura Honbu promptly caught Chiyo’s wrist from behind and stopped her. “Are you planning to call the organizers?”

“If this keeps up, he’ll die for sure.” Chiyo sighed, her eyes a little tired.

“But have you thought about the consequences?” Sakura asked gently.

“You could indeed use the Yasougi Group’s name to get him out of there, but have you considered what that would mean? Do you want the whole city to know that you and that boy have something going on?”

“I... I...” Chiyo suddenly grew guilty and fell silent.

“Miss, even if that boy has bewitched you, you still have to remember who you are.” Sakura shook her head and continued patiently, “How many unnecessary losses would we suffer because of a childish act that isn’t even thought through?”

“But... he...” Chiyo clutched her face as though she were wearing a mask of pain, caught in torment.

“Listen to me, Miss!” Sakura took Chiyo’s hands and admonished her with heartfelt earnestness. “Since you’ve taken a liking to that boy, then there is one thing you must understand! The future husband of the Yasougi Group’s heir, the future spouse of the Tokugawa Society’s leader, absolutely cannot be a man who cannot see his own limits and is always courting death!”

“If he can never pay the price for his words and decisions, and always needs you to clean up after him, then he is not worthy of you at all!”

Sakura’s words left Chiyo stunned, and she could not help falling into silence.

“...”

The room remained quiet for a long while. Chiyo did not speak again.

Her secretary was right. She had no grounds to refute it.

“Oh! W-What is this?! My heavens!” Just as the atmosphere in the study grew heavy, Flavie’s voice rang out once more:

“The result of the match in Arena No. 01 has actually undergone a shocking reversal! What on earth is going on?”

Hearing those key words, Chiyo immediately looked up and fixed her eyes on the television screen.

...

In the blood-tinged underground ring, Chen Shang was pursued relentlessly by the gun-borg and had accumulated bruises of varying severity all over his body.

He had also tried activating the pheromone suppressor. But the other side seemed to have its own thermal imaging scanner, so that little trick had had no effect at all.

After all, a pheromone suppressor could only reduce one’s presence; it did not make a person vanish into thin air. On this narrow ring, no matter how much Chen Shang reduced his presence, he could not escape his opponent’s attention.

Pinned down and beaten the entire time, Chen Shang soon retreated to the edge of the ring, with no further path of retreat.

Yet he did not panic too much, because he already had a plan.

--The time has come. Let’s try this!

Because of rejection, bodily incompatibility, and many other issues, half-mechanical beings were actually more easily disturbed in mind than pure humans or pure machines, and their resistance to psychic attacks might even be no better than a child’s.

Just as the gun-borg raised the stock and prepared his final strike, Chen Shang clutched his chest and stared fiercely at the other man.

Deep Abyss Aura triggered!

With the activation of the skill, the mechanical core in Chen Shang’s chest flashed with a dark violet light, looking especially strange.

Immediately afterward, an inexplicable pressure, accompanied by the smell of seawater, burst forth from him and spread invisibly outward like a tide.

“This... is...” The gun-borg halted midattack, his body suddenly freezing in place as he stared blankly ahead.

No one knew what he saw in that instant. All the audience could see was Chen Shang taking advantage of the gun-borg’s dazed state to pick up a chainsaw at his feet and drive it straight into the other man’s chest.

When Chen Shang entered the ring, he had already checked the weapons scattered along the edge of the arena, and deliberately lured the gun-borg toward the location where the chainsaw had been placed. He had done all of this to seize the chance to induce an illusion, then counterattack with the most destructive weapon available.

“Your look is pretty cool. When I make games in the future, I might consider using you as a supporting character.”

Chen Shang spoke softly into the gun-borg’s ear. The violently spinning chainsaw ground the flesh and mechanical parts inside the man’s body into a mangled pulp.