The two competitors only had half an hour to rest. During this half-hour period, both had to work out a detailed battle strategy.

Meanwhile, in a private estate somewhere in the Federation, Sky Shadow had been spending a considerable amount of time searching for information about Mengdie, even before his battle with Black Edge had ended a long time ago. During his downtime, Sky Shadow devoted all his efforts into it.

The result? Nothing. It was as if Mengdie didn't exist, despite the fact that Sky Shadow used every privilege he had with the Sky Network. This was bizarre, unbelievable. According to rumours, Mengdie was an elite soldier on par with Sword Dragon. His combat records should exist and be noteworthy even on a national and international level.

But why were they nowhere to be found? The conclusion Sky Shadow arrived at was that Mengdie wasn't some grand warrior, but rather a pawn propelled onto the political stage by Zana. Through continuous propaganda, Mengdie's image was built up - an image of a warrior on par with the world's top pilots. This was all a ruse.

Indeed, Mengdie's skills with the mecha were not as impressive as the rumors suggested. In fact, he seemed far inferior to Sky Shadow. This revelation made things interesting...

Yes, Mengdie was not only a level below the top fighters but also subordinate to Sky Shadow. This realization made Sky Shadow reconsider the hardware he was using. After all, there were countless ways to defeat an opponent. Riding a high-performance mecha was one method, but so was using a low-performance unit. However, the public's view of these methods varied greatly. With this in mind, Sky Shadow decided to make a change.

In the Republic of Zana, Mengdie suddenly received a call from the Military Department. The call was an official correspondence from Zana, and they gifted him a mecha...

Over at Bergheide, Duolin had just regained consciousness. She didn't know what had happened, only that in the middle of the fight, she had suddenly become dizzy and then lost consciousness. She woke up feeling as though she had been dreaming. To think that Mengdie, a young military officer, had such incredible strength. That too when he handled both responsibilities, she couldn't wrap her head around this notion.

If she had lost the close-ranged combat fight against Revenge Shadow Rider, she wouldn't mind - she and Sword Dragon had learned during Death Planet that Revenge Shadow Rider was the pilot of a biological mecha. When confronted head-on, Revenge Shadow Rider had indeed been at a disadvantage, but they still couldn't detain him. He had achieved this under surprise attack and without any real knowledge of the opponents' abilities.

However, losing to a woman much younger than herself was a different issue altogether. Not only did her plan fail to succeed, but these battles were also making her question herself - was she going to become like Sword Dragon and start to doubt her abilities?

Regardless, she had to concentrate on the direction the rest of the battle was taking. Even though she felt frustrated, dwelling on her loss was pointless. Duolin felt less pressure, mentally, so she was coping better than Sword Dragon.

Not long after, Duolin logged online, but, much to her dismay couldn't join the server. Having been disqualified, she no longer had the privilege to log in as a contestant; she would have to join the masses. After many attempts to log in, Duolin was forced to give up. She'd spent twenty-nine single years honing her skills, but this time she couldn't beat the crowd. Instead, she decided to watch the live stream.

Watching the live stream had its pros and cons - on one hand, she got to enjoy spectacular video quality, but on the other hand, she couldn't switch perspectives like a player. This was fatal for professional players, which is why many chose to log into the game instead.

By the way, what was Sword Dragon doing? Duolin suddenly remembered him, considering his defeat against Sky Shadow had been quite detrimental. Losing to Revenge Shadow Rider and Sky Shadow were two vastly different things. At least the former was a renowned legend in the world of online warfare. It might not have been the strongest, and it might have relied on luck, but no one dared to claim they could defeat it effortlessly.

Sword Dragon was overthinking it. Losing to Revenge Shadow Rider might have been humiliating, but it was quite unexpected. Sky Shadow, on the other hand, didn't even have the credentials to challenge the top-ranking pilots. What achievements could he boast of? Did he have any records of going one on one with top-ranking pilots? Duolin was indeed concerned about Sword Dragon.

She opened the door discreetly, and the sight that met her eyes was quite absurd. Cool and composed Sword Dragon was behaving like a clueless kid who couldn't get the computer to switch to the live stream channel while trying to get into Galactic Warfare at the same time. Like a pesky kid at a café trying to log into a server, a sight quite unseen on someone like Sword Dragon. How did this come about?

It was because of one person - Revenge Shadow Rider. Duolin couldn't understand men's obsession with the mysterious player. To call Revenge Shadow Rider a nobody would not be an exaggeration - He had no face, no name, no address, he was just there, a mysterious entity.

Ah, wait, what was she even thinking? Sky Shadow's battle with Pleasesome Guy was about to start. But when Duolin returned to her room, she encountered a sight that left her dumbfounded. Sky Shadow, who was usually known for his defensive tactics, had chosen Gun Rider as his main mecha for the fight.

But that wasn't the most shocking part. The guy who normally piloted the Earth mecha, Pleasesome Guy, had swapped it out for a top-tier model for this fight. Duolin couldn't believe her own eyes.

Sky Shadow was fuming mad. He thought Pleasesome Guy had splashed the cash, had become a real-money gamer, a VIP.

Damn it, damn it, how did things end up like this? The situation was completely reversed than what had been scripted. Wasn't the opponent supposed to have only one Earth mecha? Sky Shadow's decision to straightaway choose Gun Rider was due to Mengdie showing a strength that did not match her real capabilities, which was deceptive due to her top-notch reputation.

In some sense, his move had forced Mengdie into a corner where she had to use a regular mecha. Sky Shadow had a good plan- to fight regular mecha with regular mecha, and then clinch the battle in one fell swoop.

But the actual situation was... Mengdie didn't just receive a mere Heavenly Communication from the Zana Military Department. She also got a cck51 concept mecha model, also known as K51, which the Zana had bought in the name of an allied military from Star Fortune Company.

The Military Department stated that this mission of tracking down Revenge Shadow Rider was of utmost importance, and only by defeating Sky Shadow using Mengdie's special abilities was there a chance to uncover Revenge Shadow Rider's true identity.

Without exaggeration, the Military Department had sent this mecha model specifically for Mengdie to use. No matter what mecha Sky Shadow used, it didn't matter to the Republic of Zana. Zana was determined to find the real Revenge Shadow Rider. Other forces might lack this ability, but Zana was different, because Zana had the Jade Clear Sect.

At this point, the pressure on Sky Shadow could not be understated. Even the spectators in the audience gasped and began murmuring to each other when they saw Pleasesome Guy's choice. They hadn't expected Mengdie, a top-notch white coat pilot, to end up riding a high-end model in the battle against the 12-star general. The most discussed topic was Zana's choice, the usually vocal Zana netizens suddenly fell silent.

As for Sky Shadow, he didn't care about winning or losing. His real challenge was the Revenge Shadow Rider, choosing Gun Rider was just to pick up some easy points before the real showdown. Who could imagine that he'd step into a puddle of shit right out of the gate?

Pitting Gun Rider against the K51 was like declaring that Sky Shadow had already lost half the battle even before it began. But he was still trying to find a way to win.

"Mengdie, is the K51 your choice as a top-notch white coat?"

"..." Silence.

Sky Shadow: "!@#￥%"

"..."

Sky Shadow: "!@#￥%"

"..."

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