The Grand Arena of Babylon was a coliseum built to hold fifty thousand screaming souls. Today, it held sixty thousand. People were hanging from the arches, crowding the aisles, and spilling over the railings.
The air smelled of roasted nuts, sweat, and cheap wine. But down in the waiting tunnel, the air smelled of cold stone and fear.
Team Apex stood by the heavy iron gate. Kaelen Thorne was adjusting his gloves, looking bored. Lyra was bouncing on the balls of her feet, her spear crackling with restless electricity. Jax was leaning against the wall, eyes closed, resembling a boulder.
And then there was me. I was wearing a heavy grey cloak that covered my entire body. Underneath, the Aegis Mark I hummed softly against my skin. The coolant pumps were circulating, keeping the Chimera Core stable.
"Remember the plan," Kaelen said, his voice cutting through the noise of the crowd outside. "Iron-Blood uses a Phalanx formation. They have Null-Shields. Magic is useless against their front line." He looked at Lyra. "Don't waste your mana on the shields, Lyra. Flank them."
"I'll smash them," Lyra grunted.
"And you," Kaelen turned to me. "Stay back. Don't die. If the line breaks, run."
"Understood," I said. My voice was muffled by the cloak.
The gates groaned open. Sunlight blinded us for a second. Then, the roar of the crowd hit us like a physical wave.
"LADIES AND GENTLEMEN!" the magical voice of the announcer boomed across the stadium. "REPRESENTING BABYLON ACADEMY... THE KINGS OF THE HILL... TEAM APEX!"
Cheers erupted. Girls screamed Kaelen's name. But when the announcer continued, the tone changed. "Led by Student Council President Kaelen Thorne! The Valkyrie, Lyra Storm! The Mountain, Jax! And... uh... replacing Torian Valerius... the F-Rank Alchemist, Aren Vance!"
The cheers died down. Laughter rippled through the stands. Boos echoed from the upper decks. "Get off the field!" "Where is Torian?" "Don't trip over your robes, F-Rank!"
I walked onto the sand, ignoring them. Across the arena, Team Iron-Blood entered. They looked like a wall of steel. Four students from the Military Academy, wearing identical heavy plate armor and carrying tower shields that shimmered with anti-magic runes. Their captain, Garret, held a massive halberd. He looked at us and sneered.
"Mages," Garret spat. "Glass cannons. One hit and they shatter."
The referee, a high-ranking battle-mage, raised his hand. "Match Rules: Incapacitation or Ring Out. Lethal force is prohibited but... accidents happen. BEGIN!"
BOOM. Team Iron-Blood didn't charge. They locked shields. [Formation: Antimagic Turtle] A transparent dome of negation energy formed around them.
Lyra launched herself forward, screaming. She threw a lightning bolt. ZAP. The bolt hit the shields and vanished. Nullified. "Cowards!" Lyra yelled, trying to circle them. But the formation turned with her.
Jax charged. He slammed his stone fists into the shields. THUD. The impact shook the ground, but the Military students braced their feet. They didn't budge. They stabbed out with short swords through the gaps in the shields, forcing Jax to retreat.
"They're turtling," Kaelen observed, floating a few feet off the ground. He cast a Gravity Well, trying to crush them. The shield flared. The gravity spell was absorbed.
"We can't break the shell!" Lyra shouted, dodging a spear thrust. "My lightning isn't working!"
Garret, the enemy captain, laughed from behind his shield. "This is war, little girl. Not a magic show. Your fancy spells mean nothing against cold iron!"
They were advancing. Slowly pushing Team Apex toward the edge of the ring. The crowd was getting restless. They wanted to see the "Genius" Kaelen lose.
Kaelen looked frustrated. He glanced at me. "Aren! Do something useful! Throw a smoke bomb! Distract them!"
I stood my ground. "Distraction won't work," I said. "You need a battering ram."
"We have Jax!"
"Jax is magic-based stone," I corrected. "His strength is mana-fueled. Their shields weaken him."
I reached up and unclasped my cloak. The heavy fabric fell to the sand.
The crowd went silent. They didn't see a scrawny F-Rank student in a robe. They saw a monstrosity of matte-black metal. The Aegis suit reflected the sun dully. The copper pipes hissed, venting steam. The green light of the Chimera Core pulsed in the center of my chest.
"What is that?" Garret asked, lowering his shield slightly. "A costume?"
"Elara," I whispered inside the helmet. "Crank it to 100%."
"You have 8 minutes of fuel," Elara's voice crackled in my ear. "Don't blow up."
I started walking. CLANK. CLANK. Every step was heavy, digging into the sand. I didn't cast a spell. I didn't summon mana. I just walked straight toward the wall of shields.
"Focus fire on the metal man!" Garret shouted. "He's bluffing!"
Two spear-users thrust their weapons at me through the shield gaps. I didn't dodge. CLANG. CLANG. The spears hit my chest plate. The mithril alloy held. I grabbed the shafts of the spears with my mechanical hands.
"Physics lesson," I amplified my voice through the suit. "Force equals Mass times Acceleration."
I activated the pistons in the arms. HISSS-CHUNK. I pulled. The two students holding the spears were yanked off their feet. They flew toward me, crashing into my armor. I backhanded them. Not a punch. A slap. But with hydraulic assistance, it was like being hit by a carriage. They went flying, tumbling across the sand, unconscious.
The crowd gasped.
Garret looked horrified. "He... he broke the formation!"
"He's not using magic!" one of his teammates screamed. "The Null-Shields aren't working!"
Of course not. Null-Shields blocked mana. They didn't block a two-hundred-pound metal fist powered by steam and rage.
Garret stepped forward, swinging his halberd. "Die, freak!" The blade came down on my head. I caught the shaft. My servos whined. The ground beneath my feet cracked from the pressure. But I held it.
I looked into Garret's eyes through my glowing red visor. "Checkmate."
I punched his shield. [Overdrive: Piston Impact] BOOOM.
The sound was like a cannon shot. The anti-magic tower shield didn't just dent; it folded. Garret was launched backward. He flew ten meters, hit the arena wall, and slid down, out cold.
The last standing member of Iron-Blood looked at me. He looked at his fallen captain. He looked at his bent shield. He dropped his sword and raised his hands. "I surrender."
Silence. Absolute silence in the arena.
Then, Kaelen landed next to me. He looked at the carnage. He looked at the steaming armor. "Show off," he whispered.
The announcer finally found his voice. "WINNER... TEAM APEX!"
The crowd erupted. It wasn't the polite applause of nobles. It was the primal roar of people who had just seen something new. Something violent.
I opened the faceplate of the helmet. Steam hissed out. I looked up at the VIP box. At the very top, I saw the Headmaster. And next to him, the envoys from the Empire. They weren't looking at Kaelen. They were looking at me. They were looking at the weapon that made an F-Rank student stronger than a soldier.
"Elara," I said quietly. "Prepare the order forms. We're going to have a lot of customers."