"Beep—"
A piercing comm request cut through the roar in my head. It was Jinx.
"Vex, the bracket for the next round is out!" Her text projected in front of me, filled with her usual urgency. "Your opponent is 'Sledgehammer,' piloting a heavy siege mech called 'Destroyer.' I looked into his background... this guy is with the Brotherhood! He's one of their top enforcers!"
Here it comes.
My fingertips traced the cold surface of the wrench, where the deeply engraved letter "G" seemed to brand itself into my knuckles. Father. Engineer. Valerius. These words seared my mind, reducing my past to ashes. And rising from those ashes was a new version of myself—one born only for vengeance.
"They want to execute you publicly on a galaxy-wide broadcast!" Jinx's words felt cold. "Vex, this match is too dangerous! The 'Destroyer' is built specifically to level fortresses. Its main cannon can flatten a small mountain! Your 'Wrench' won't survive a single shot!"
"Don't worry," I typed back. Two words, devoid of warmth.
"How can I not worry?!" Jinx was clearly exasperated by my composure. "Listen, I've got a little surprise here. It's part of the blueprints for the Empire's latest mech, the 'Archangel'—Crown Prince Leon's personal unit! It's incomplete, but the technical details..."
My gaze lingered on the complex schematics for a second. The pinnacle of Imperial technology; even as a fragment, it held immense value. I quickly saved it to an isolated, encrypted partition before replying to Jinx.
"Got it."
"Got what? Are you even listening to me?! This is no time to act tough!"
I cut the connection.
Jinx, you still don't understand.
I am no longer a rat hiding in the gutters, praying not to be crushed.
I am the hunter. And the entire arena will be my hunting ground.
***
Online virtual arena: "The Steel Jungle."
Skyscrapers of metal rose like a lifeless forest, blotting out the sky. This was a derelict urban zone; fractured overpasses, collapsed towers, and cratered plazas formed a massive labyrinth.
My "Wrench" crouched silently in the shadow of a building, like a predator lying in wait.
"Ladies and gentlemen! Welcome back to the Royal Interstellar League!" The commentator's high-octane voice boomed across the public channel. "Today's feature match: the dark horse, Vex, versus the veteran powerhouse, 'Sledgehammer'!""Haha, Charlie, I'd sooner call this smashing an egg against a rock!" the other commentator sneered. "On one side, we have cobbled-together junk; on the other, a military-grade siege engine, the 'Destroyer'! I bet that scavenger won't last thirty seconds!"
A piercing roar of laughter erupted from the stands. Their mockery was like the buzzing of distant gnats—utterly meaningless. My entire mind was focused on the hunk of iron in the distance.
The "Destroyer."
A terrifyingly thick cannon was perched on its shoulder, its dark, hollow muzzle exuding the very breath of death. Heavy armor made it look incredibly cumbersome, yet every step it took made the ground shudder, radiating an overwhelming sense of dread.
The bell for the start of the match rang.
"Raaargh!"
"Sledge" didn't hesitate for a second. Without even bothering to locate me, he raised that massive cannon!
"Boom—!!"
The deafening blast tore through the air!
A high-explosive shell trailed a long plume of fire—not toward me, but toward a skyscraper nearby! A massive explosion ripped through the center of the building, sending chunks of reinforced concrete spraying everywhere like a rainstorm. The hundred-meter-tall tower let out a groan of agony and began to tilt, collapsing inward.
"My god! What is 'Sledge' doing?!" the commentator cried out. "He's ignoring the match rules! He's destroying the arena indiscriminately!"
"Boom!" "Boom!" "Boom!"
Three more consecutive shots! The entire sector turned into a living hell. Flames and thick smoke billowed into the sky as building after building was reduced to rubble under the bombardment.
He wanted to bury me alive along with the entire area!
The "Wrench" dodged frantically amidst the collapsing structures and flying debris, its engine letting out a roar of overstrained protest. I piloted the mech into a narrow street as massive rubble whistled overhead, crashing down and completely burying the path I had just passed through.
"Hahaha! Run, you little bug! Let's see how far you can get!" Sledge's arrogant laughter echoed through the public channel.
On the screens, my "Wrench" looked pathetic—like a mouse being toyed with by a cat, capable only of fleeing frantically along the edge of death.
"Vex is in a desperate situation! She is being completely suppressed by Sledge's firepower!"
"She doesn't have a single chance to strike back! This is the difference between junk and a real weapon!"
Good. Just like that. Laugh. Shout. Your revelry is the soundtrack to my hunt.
I was waiting. Waiting for the smoke to be thick enough, for the ruins to be high enough. Waiting for him to believe that victory was already in his grasp.
Right nowSeizing the cover of the billowing dust kicked up by the collapsing building, I yanked the stick! The *Wrench* made a sharp turn, and instead of continuing to flee, it plunged headlong into the impenetrable smoke!
"Huh? Where'd she go?" Sledgehammer's voice held a hint of confusion.
"She might have been buried under the rubble!" the commentator shouted.
I cut all external audio; the cockpit fell into a dead silence.
Through my "Engineer's Eye," the smoke and darkness didn't exist. I could clearly see the massive silhouette of the *Devastator* three hundred meters ahead, its turret slowly rotating like a lumbering beast searching for its prey.
I could also see twelve massive hexagonal rivets on the base of its main turret, flashing with the dangerous red glow of metal fatigue.
That was its only weakness.
To withstand the immense recoil of the main cannon, the connection between the turret and the chassis had been designed to be incredibly robust. But because of that, every shot sent a massive stress shock through those connecting rivets. After four consecutive maximum-power shots, the metal structure of these rivets had reached its fatigue limit.
I didn't see armor—only those twelve rivets flashing with the red light of fatigue. My father hadn't taught me how to fight; he taught me how to dismantle. And now, I was going to tear this war machine down to parts, piece by piece.
I piloted the *Wrench* like a ghost, silently circling through the shadows of the ruins to the *Devastator's* rear flank.
He was completely oblivious.
Closer. One hundred meters. Fifty. Ten!
I slammed the throttle to the max!
The *Wrench* lunged out of the smoke like a crazed rhino, its massive industrial wrench already gripped tight in its giant mechanical hand!
"What?!"
Sledgehammer finally reacted, frantically trying to swing the turret around.
Too late!
I didn't even bother attacking his heavy chassis. Instead, with an impossibly agile sideslip, I pressed the *Wrench's* entire frame against the base of his massive turret!
*Clang!*
The first sharp crack! The massive wrench struck the critical stress point of the first rivet with pinpoint precision! The rivet, larger than my head, snapped instantly!
*Clang!*
The second!
*Clang!*
The third!
My movements were lightning-fast, each strike using the engine's instantaneous burst of torque—not overwhelming in power, but precise to the micrometer! Like a frenzied woodpecker, the *Wrench* circled the *Devastator's* turret base, using that massive wrench to play a symphony of death"What are you doing?! Get off me!" Sledge roared in a panic. He tried to ram me with his chassis, but his mech was far too lumbering, and I was stuck to him like glue—he couldn't shake me off!
*Clang! Clang! Clang!*
A series of crisp metal snaps rang out, like a frantic drumroll!
The twelfth one!
As I snapped the final rivet, the entire world seemed to fall silent for a heartbeat.
*Creeeeeak—*
A metallic groan that set teeth on edge echoed.
Before the horrified eyes of Sledge and the audience across the galaxy, the *Destroyer's* pride and joy—its massive siege cannon—along with the entire turret, began to slide slowly off the chassis!
*THOOM!*
The turret, weighing dozens of tons, slammed into the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust like the carcass of a decapitated behemoth.
"No... It's impossible!" Sledge let out a desperate wail.
His most powerful weapon, his ultimate trump card, had been... dismantled with nothing but a wrench?
I piloted the *Wrench*, planting a foot atop the fallen turret as I looked down at the defanged tiger before me.
I opened the public channel, but this time, I ran my voice through a special filter, shifting it into a frequency laced with a specific static used only in the Brotherhood's internal encrypted communications. It was a trophy I had scavenged from that unlucky thug.
My voice was ice-cold as it transmitted clearly into Sledge's cockpit and into the ears of every Brotherhood member monitoring the match.
"Tell your boss."
"Next time, send someone who can actually fight."