The Font of Life (Overdrive Book 3), page 10
As soon as they stepped into their pod, The Mechanical King started casting the game.
Julian raised an eyebrow. That was an interesting change. Normally, the Overdrive Corporation used a professional team of casters. The CEO hadn't cast games since the World Championship Last Chance Qualifier a year and a half ago.
Despite his usual pompous attitude, The Mechanical King was actually a fantastic caster. Julian and the other competitors would get to hear the introductions before the soundproof booths sealed them away for the match proper.
"On the left hand side, we've got Kang's team, led by my special guest, DISTINCTIONMAN! A ferocious pilot who has battled past all odds to make it here. A player whose daring individualism reminds me of myself when I founded the Overdrive Corporation!"
The crowd applauded, and the reporters politely joined in.
"The next player is Kang. This young pilot is the sub-Ace of his team. A longtime DISTINCTIONMAN fan, he is excited to serve as a diligent understudy to his hero."
The young pilot tried to smile and wave from inside his pod as The Mechanical King moved onto the next player in his script. Julian wondered what the game company CEO could say about them.
Neither were particularly known pilots.
It turned out that was exactly what The Mechanical King said.
"Dr. Time and purple1015 are both pilots of lesser repute, but they are eager to make a name for themselves at the Selection. Most players consider only the pilots ranked in the top 100 to be candidates for the Fortress Master slot, but there's a reason why I invite pilots down to the top 500. You never know who can make it big. Sometimes, all they need is a chance! Maybe someone will surprise us!"
The Mechanical King made a similar announcement, praising Chuck as a talented carry player known for his mastery of almost every offensive weapon.
"The item match game is a perfect fit for his talents - that is, if he can overcome DISTINCTIONMAN!"
The CEO introduced the other three, including Julian, as pilots of little repute.
Julian smiled.
Hopefully he could gain a reputation in this match.
The Selection had taught him he was better than his mediocre rank would suggest. His rise to the Selection had featured plenty of triumphs over solid opponents like Dynamic, Alt3ration, and drsinister67.
At the Selection itself, he'd partially seen through Phillips's item predictions on Day 1 before teaming up with her to hold back Seedster's alliance on Day 2.
But he was still a step behind the very best. This battle, another match where the odds were painfully stacked against him, was another chance to grow.
They entered the loading screen, and Julian's fingers surged forwards.
With lightning speed, Julian locked in the Ace Selection and picked his Mech.
Back in high school, he'd actually been a pretty prolific instant locker.
He was spoiled rotten playing with Felix and Edwin, who were both incredibly flexible supportive players.
In a way, Julian had been pretty similar to DISTINCTIONMAN and his fans back in high school. He wouldn't yell at his team if they didn't support him, but his one-dimensionality still caused his teams to lose.
He'd given up instant locking during college, but only because it was too much of a damper on a team's mood if one player wasn't willing to discuss team strategy. It'd taken him another few years before he finally diversified his game.
It was a good thing he still had the ability to pick his character so quickly.
Chuck sneered.
"Come on. You think locking in the Ace is going to make you do anything?"
Chuck and his two allies weren't making any attempt to win. They were hovering the Guardian III, an extremely outdated model that'd released during the second year of Overdrive. Back then, Julian had been a senior in high school.
Grunt frames needed to be continually upgraded to remain viable. It was an imitation of how often such machines were phased out in Mech series. The frames actively became worse over time.
Then Chuck cursed angrily as he realized what was happening.
"Wait. Wait. He's trying to pull something. He's got Souls of the Fallen."
Julian cursed.
He'd hoped that they wouldn't notice, but that was probably a bit too optimistic. Chuck was cocky, but he wasn't an idiot.
The other two pilots sounded frightened, but Chuck waved off their concerns.
"Don't worry. He'll still have to get past me. I'll tell him how pointless it is to defy the might of the alliance!"
Now that they knew they actually needed to compete, the three pilots shifted their Mechs.
Rather than going for the Guardian III, they locked in Morphers, state of the art Grunts that could shift between three different modes - a highly mobile aircraft, a versatile humanoid form, and a long-ranged bombardment platform. Typically, the rather uncreatively named machine was armed to the teeth with high firepower weapons like plasma cannons or missile launchers, enabling both hit-and-run attacks and artillery.
The Mech frame was just out of the competitive standard.
Most players considered it a Tier 2 option simply because the high cost of the Frame's built-in parts meant it struggled to equip sufficient supportive parts. The Mech could only play with certain Ace types.
However, it was undoubtedly the perfect fit for this sort of Random Item Selection. If Julian had to guess, every team that owned the frame was going to bring it.
Julian quickly developed an internal plan. Brandon had taught him just how important it was to thoroughly strategize before every match.
His first goal was to take out his false teammates. Because teams normally spawned in a tight formation, he could be instantly surrounded depending on the stage. He needed to find a way to immediately break free. His best bet was to immediately go for an allied cockpit as soon as the match started.
Ideally, he'd take out Chuck from the start.
The other two were far easier to deal with.
Julian thought for a moment longer then shook his head.
Chuck might be able to react fast enough, but the others weren't as good.
This was the same lesson he'd learned during his match with Phillips. It was better to take the safe play, even if it didn't feel as satisfying. If he aimed for Chuck and missed, the other two pilots could instantly catch him in a crossfire.
Aiming for a worse opponent was a guaranteed way to break through. A two-on-one was far easier than a three-on-one, even accounting for the gap in skill between Chuck and the others.
On top of that, he needed to land clean cockpit hits if he wanted to use Souls of the Fallen correctly. A common counter to Souls of the Fallen was incinerating destroyed frames. Clean shots that left an intact corpse would make the match much easier.
Though he hadn't paid any attention to them before, Julian took a quick look at the lesser alliance members.
Dano and SicKe5T were both ranked in the early-500s. If Julian had to guess, they were mid-400s players before their ranks decayed due to not playing during the Selection. Dano was at 510 and SicKe5t was at 536.
The rank difference wasn't large enough to tell Julian anything.
He reached for the Database, but then realized he was making things too complicated. He'd seen their movement skills already during the maze. Neither was particularly good.
What mattered wasn't who was slightly better at dodging between the two of them - it was picking the player who was at the easier angle to kill.
The Starlight R was a right-handed machine. Normally, that wasn't an important factor. Mechs were equally strong with both hands. In fact, Emma had mocked Julian for relying on his right-side too often in many of their training battles.
But because they only had a single primary weapon in this Random Item Mirror battle, it meant he'd draw the beam rifle from his right-hand side.
Therefore, the fastest way to break through was to shoot the opponent on his right.
Those vital milliseconds would make all the difference.
If Chuck was on his right, he'd dash straight forwards and shoot the opponent in front of him.
They entered the loading screen.
Map: Caves
Opponents: DISTINCTIONMAN50000, Kang, Dr. Time, purple1015
Julian grinned.
Caves was a decent option for his strategy. He didn't want a small map. He needed time to kill his teammates before DISTINCTIONMAN arrived. Caves also had very few obstacles, so there'd be no place for his teammates to hide. In a three-on-one situation, the textbook solution was using cover to split your opponents and turn the fights into individual battles.
But in this case, Julian had no time for that. He needed to win his three-on-one as soon as possible so it wouldn't turn into a seven-on-one!
Less cover actually helped him.
Caves was a broad and flat surface where the most prominent characteristic was the enormous roof. It gave you additional options to attack, like collapsing it on top of your opponents or slamming them into it. Unlike maps like Beach, it actually wasn't a mixed stage. No matter how far you flew, you couldn't leave the Cave, nor could you shoot your way out.
The server just acted like there were an unlimited number of rocks looming above you.
To Julian's surprise, his opponents weren't using Morphers. Neither had they picked a popular frame like the Guardian X.
Instead, they were using strange custom-colored pink and white Mechs Julian only barely recognized from the broad shape of the shoulders. They must have been the special Grunts DISTINCTIONMAN mentioned earlier.
Snails were the purest of support Mechs - practically the closest thing to Item Mechs. The bulky machines were incredibly fragile, with both terrible movement speed and paper-thin armor. They were only used for a single reason - their enormous backpacks, which allowed them to equip all manner of support items, including spare parts.
However, equipping support items was impossible under the Random Mirror Item conditions.
Normally, the bulky Mechs looked like the animal they were named after. He'd redesigned the machine, so they looked like chubby pages to better fit his cartoonish ideas of honor.
DISTINCTIONMAN really was a pointless jerk. He was only doing this to bully his teammates. The Nullifier didn't need this sort of machine to succeed.
Julian shrugged and pushed the anger away. He had no time to moralize about DISTINCTIONMAN or even feel bad for the streamer's hostage-teammates.
Forcing them to use Snails benefited Julian. Their lack of armor meant they couldn't survive many attacks. Perhaps it was time to try Lilac's suggested strategy - overwhelming the Glare Across Dimensions with raw firepower.
MATCH START
Chuck growled.
"Shoot him as soon as we load in."
It was an obvious command, but it showed that Julian had his own advantage. He was on the same team call as them. They couldn't plan behind his back.
To his relief, Chuck loaded directly in front of him. SicKe5t was to his right and Dano was to his left.
There was a slight period where you couldn't move after a launch. Because he couldn't shoot right away, Julian took a moment to quickly calculate the other pilot's trajectory. SicKes5t's foot was slightly tilted to the right, meaning that he'd slide instead of landing straight on.
Julian jerked both his feet at the last second before landing, so that his Mech would fall towards the floor.
As soon as they landed, Julian was ready. Without even sparing time for a glance, he drew his rifle and fired. The other machine crashed to the ground, pierced straight through the cockpit.
Chuck and Dano, not anticipating Julian's last-second movement, missed. The beams streaked above him.
Julian streaked to the side, flying over SicKe5t's corpse as the other pilots cursed in disbelief.
One down.
Two to go.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
TO SOMEONE LOOKING from the outside, Julian would have seemed psychic just like Phillips was.
As soon as the fight had started, he'd immediately dodged while landing a perfect shot.
In reality, it'd just been his preparation.
Julian didn't know Caves quite as well as he knew some of his favored maps like Cityscape, but he'd walked across the stony surface enough times to know how a Mech's feet interacted with the terrain.
The fight would be much easier now. With three opponents, they could have caught him in a crossfire, but the combination of Cave's lack of obstacles and SicKe5t's defeat meant that it was no longer possible.
Julian streaked out of danger, then turned around, keeping his rifle carefully trained forward on the grouped-up Chuck and Dano. If either of them lowered their rifles to destroy the fresh corpse, Julian would instantly kill them. If they tried to split, Julian would immediately destroy the less-experienced pilot.
Souls of the Fallen had created what was essentially the perfect hostage position.
Chuck growled.
"Give up. You don't have a chance. Just give up. You're wasting everyone's time."
Julian grinned as he caught a satisfying note of fear in the burly pilot's voice. More likely than not, the alliance had blackmailed Chuck into participating. The offensive specialist didn't want news of his rank boosting to get out.
Instead of responding, Julian squeezed off a shot that the other pilot easily avoided by jerking to the side.
He fired again, but Chuck dodged once more.
The two pilots retorted, but Julian comfortably fled. Every once in a while, Chuck gave Dano instructions.
Julian decided to tune everything out. It was impossible to tell what was a bluff and what was a real call.
His opponents were trying to sync up their shots to try and pin him, but he could easily anticipate Dano's actions. The lower-ranking pilot seemed uncomfortable with the rifle - perhaps he was some sort of melee specialist.
Chuck had no such problems. The talented pilot sheared a hole through Julian's upper armor.
Julian's retort was effortlessly dodged as Chuck briefly shifted into his airplane form. After establishing enough of a distance, he swapped back to human mode and squeezed off two shots that Julian barely avoided.
The maneuver was truly impressive.
Few pilots could transform their machines without hesitation. Not only did it suddenly warp your Mech's stats, it also instantly re-aligned your cockpit position. Most pilots would freeze up at the sudden angle change, but Chuck richly deserved his reputation as an offensive cornerstone.
Footsteps started echoing from the far right of the stage.
Julian cursed.
DISTINCTIONMAN and his men were coming soon.
Julian was lucky Cave was such a broad map.
Otherwise, he would have had to fight seven against one from the start.
In that moment, he instantly decided that he couldn't bother with Chuck. He wouldn't be able to kill all three machines in time. For all he knew, he might even lose to Chuck in a fair one-on-one.
He had to kill Dano and then merge with the two available corpses. The Souls of the Fallen boost would still dramatically increase his strength, especially because they were Morphers.
Julian feinted forwards, and then fired at the roof. Rocks tumbled towards Dano, who lifted his hands to shield himself.
It was a move that never would have worked on the more experienced Chuck, but Dano was using an unfamiliar machine with an unfamiliar weapon. On top of that, Cave was a little-used stage. It was easy for Julian to catch Dano off guard and bait him into an inconvenient mistake.
He fired, but his shot didn't reach its mark.
Julian's eyes widened.
Chuck had blocked his attack, streaking back to his ally in plane mode before transforming into an artillery platform at the last second. The thickly shielded unit looked almost comical with just a single gun, but it did the job well. The armor tanked the blast, slamming Chuck into the ground.
The star pilot's Mech was terribly dented, but it was still alive.
Julian aimed again, but Chuck canceled out his attack with a shot of his own. The two beam blasts collided and exploded in a shower of energy.
By then, Dano had recovered.
He fired at the roof again, but Dano avoided the rubble instead of trying to block it.
That kind of trick only worked once. Dano was still a Selection qualified pilot. He was no idiot.
Before he could even try to formulate another plan, Chuck's voice rang across the shared line.
"Blow yourself up."
Julian's eyes widened as he realized what was about to happen. He fired at Dano again, but the other pilot instantly obeyed Chuck's command. Right before the shot would have hit the cockpit, Dano's Mech exploded to almost unusable pieces.
The indicator at the bottom right of his screen told him there were very few salvageable parts for Souls of the Fallen.
"Good. We'll let DISTINCTIONMAN take care of him."
Julian cursed.
He wondered what the people outside were thinking.
As soon as the match began, Julian had attacked his own team.
Now one of them had self-destructed.
The Mechanical King was probably explaining it as poor sportsmanship on Julian's end. He didn't want the reporters to realize the Selection was being rigged by the alliance. For some bizarre reason, The Mechanical King immediately became ten times more competent inside the casting booth. It was probably why Joanna had put him there.
Julian turned his rifle towards the last surviving opponent, but Chuck had already shifted back into a plane. The group leader streaked back into the cavern. His Mech was billowing smoke from one side and leaning heavily towards the right, but his positioning was perfect.
Julian wasn't skilled enough to hit that angle. He had three chances, and all of them went wide.
Too late, he realized he needed to abuse the roof like the imposter had. The rubble would have made it far more difficult for Chuck to dodge.
By then, DISTINCTIONMAN and his team had arrived.
To Julian's relief, the pages were firing at Chuck's Mech instead of Julian's. Without inter-team voice communications, the skilled offensive pilot had no way of explaining that he was secretly on their side. All DISTINCTIONMAN's team saw was a fleeing opponent.
