Chapter 54: Paper Dodge

The Lightning Knight attacked again. If he couldn't kill with one blow, there would be no entertainment value. He had to tear this big, clumsy bear, the Armor Tiger, apart sword by sword to let his supporters have a good time; such opportunities were also very rare.

The Lightning Knight dashed forward at extreme speed, aiming for one of the Armor Tiger's left hands.

The Armor Tiger moved, *shing*...

The Lightning Knight's radiance swept past, but it missed...

Mashu was also slightly stunned. Good luck, it actually managed to dodge by chance. With a gorgeous and fluid turn, the Lightning Knight slammed toward the Armor Tiger again with a *bang*.

Extreme Aurora Advance, time for a Spiral Slash at the horse legs!

This was a low-position attack, also the position hardest for Heavy Armor to defend, increasing the pilot's operational difficulty and load. However, the Armor Tiger mech moved step by step with a *thud, thud, thud*, while the Lightning Knight's attacks all missed; several times, the Laser Sword almost grazed the mech, but it just didn't cause any substantial damage.

The Armor Tiger mech was clumsy, but there was an indescribable feeling to it; its movement range was large and its actions were slow, yet it was able to dodge all of its opponent's attacks.

It was just that little bit off. Mashu was fighting in one continuous flow, set after set. By his judgment, he had almost reached the opponent's limit of movement, yet the other side could still respond.

After a high-speed spin missed, the mechs drifted more than ten meters apart. Pulling the mech up and turning around, Mashu stared tightly at the opponent, and the Armor Tiger mech also turned to look at the Lightning Knight.

A curve appeared at the corner of Huonan's mouth. He had tasted a bit of the flavor, but it was still quite dangerous. If it were an ordinary contestant, that would be one thing, but since this Mashu chose to become an EMP-signed professional player, the Moon EMP Group must have poached him at a high price; he possessed real strength. Most importantly, the reason a Concept Mech was a Concept Mech was that its biggest difference was performance.

After one round of crossing, Mashu also realized that the opponent had some substance. The Lightning Knight's other Laser Sword popped out, the Laser Swords crossed, the mech's center of gravity lowered slightly, and the engine roared. Actually, the initial attacks had only utilized 60% of its power.

*Shing*...

Everyone's vision blurred. A ray of light flashed by in an instant, arriving before the giant Armor Tiger, and two rays of light crossed.

—Extreme Flash Instant Prison Cross Slash!

Not to mention facing Heavy Armor, when facing ordinary medium mechs, this kind of full-power, high-speed kill didn't even require technique, and he had never missed since he started using it. But this tactile feedback wasn't right??

The next second, a sense of crisis enveloped his heart. Almost on the spot, he performed a lateral dash and retreated at high speed, while the Armor Tiger mech also retracted its right hand that had been preparing to attack. The Lightning Knight, having opened up a distance of more than ten meters, suddenly didn't dare to attack.

"Paper Dodge." Alzi curled his lips, feeling a bit incredulous. Such a clumsy thing, yet it could actually predict the opponent's attack information through large-scale movement.

Feynman nodded. The mastery of distance could actually be felt as early as the battle between Wuzang and the Puppet. The Puppet's melee level was unprecedentedly strong, and its insight was also terrifying; only those who had reached a certain level and fought against it could feel this kind of pressure.

The audience could only watch the excitement.

"Attack, why don't you?"

"Are you stupid?"

"Why is this Lightning Knight so trash? He can't even beat this?"

The Lightning Knight's sudden stagnation made many onlookers unhappy. It was one thing for the Armor Tiger not to attack—after all, it was an obsolete Heavy Armor that couldn't catch up, and it had even discarded its weapons—but he didn't even dare to fight?

In an instant, they almost overwhelmingly stood on the side of the Armor Tiger. It wasn't just the other federations; even the NUP audience was the same. There was still a difference between Moon People and Martians; most of them still had a bottom line. Although they had a tendency toward federal affiliation, they hated cowards even more.

In this battle, the Lightning Knight already had every advantage; attacking was the only way out.

At this moment, Mashu didn't care at all about what the outside world thought. In that instant just now, his entire back had been soaked through.

When the opponent performed the Paper Dodge, he hadn't anticipated it at all, so in that instant, the mech was stagnant. The Armor Tiger could have hit him with one blow. He had already felt that fatal threat; it was quite dangerous for a Light Type mech to be hit head-on by Heavy Armor. Even a Heavy Armor that was lagging in power was still crushing.

And what made him suspicious was that the opponent's attack had already been initiated but suddenly stopped. This pause gave him the reaction time to pull away.

What did that mean?

At this moment, the Armor Tiger mech beckoned to the Lightning Knight opposite.

The whole arena exploded instantly. What was this???

"Brothers, did you see that? I just have to believe in the Puppet God. The situation is a bit passive, but it's completely under control!" Zhuang Zhou roared passionately.

Huonan, on the side, smiled slightly. "Little Zhuang, calm down. Although the dodging is done very well right now, the Armor Tiger is still easy to lose if the Lightning Knight grabs one opportunity."

"Old Nan, you don't understand. The Puppet God is no ordinary person!"

"Young man, you have to listen to different opinions, and never mythologize a person..."

Mashu, who had been a bit suspicious, burned up completely after seeing this action. At this moment, his brain suddenly cleared, and he fiercely slapped himself. Damn, who knows how many people are watching this match right now; how could he be a coward?

The two Laser Swords spun fancy-style between his hands, showing off his technical skill. *Shing*...

The ends of the two Laser Swords docked—Double-Headed Dragon. The Lightning Knight gave a thumbs-up to the Armor Tiger opposite and then turned it downward.

*Boom*... Dust flew.

Flash Strike: Floating Light Glancing Shadow!

The Lightning Knight lowered his center of gravity like a floating light and glancing shadow, completely disappearing from sight. During the entire charging process, the mech was almost in a suspended state. The next moment, it appeared below the Armor Tiger and fiercely surged upward in an arc—Double-Headed Dragon Flash.

And just at the moment of the upward surging momentum, a thunderous sound like an explosion occurred, and dust shot into the sky.

*Boom*...

Three seconds later.

Puppet wins!

Huonan was holding a lit cigar and putting it to his mouth. The moment he heard this sound in his ear, his eyes widened immediately, and he slowly put the burning end of the cigar into his mouth.

Ah~~~~FUCK

As the smoke and dust dissipated, all people saw was the standing Armor Tiger mech, and the shattered Lightning Knight at its feet. The Super Mecha that had been flashing gorgeously before now had a large hole in its chest, and its overall streamlined shape had completely cracked...

"What is this? Does the Armor Tiger have any hidden weapons?"

"Did it take a punch?"

"Can a punch from your house do this?"

"It definitely wasn't hit by a mech fist; it couldn't punch through. And even if it could punch through, it couldn't cause the whole thing to crack. I study mech materials!"

"I just felt the Puppet was so calm; it must have a secret weapon. This might be a new research direction for the USE military!"

"I think so too. I feel like this is just a Super Mecha that looks like an Armor Tiger. Didn't you see? How could an Armor Tiger keep up with the Lightning Knight's speed!"

In an instant, all kinds of experts emerged, and honestly, they all sounded quite reasonable.

Zhuang Zhou was feeling great. Ever since he made the fatal bet with Huonan, he had completely let go. Afraid? The hell with that!

"Everyone, calm down. Regular operation. I don't understand why everyone thinks the Puppet God would lose. From the moment you all saw the Puppet God, when has he ever been reckless? To fight a Concept Mech, do you need weapons? I ask you, do you need weapons?" Zhuang Zhou roared.

Huonan, on the side, cleaned his scalded mouth. Inflated, too inflated!

"Don't be so certain just yet, viewers. Let's look at the analysis video. Puppet must have intentionally discarded his weapon to make his opponent underestimate him, then unleashed the Armor Tiger's hidden weapon," Huonan said calmly. "Zhuang Zhou, as a streamer, you need to stay calm."

Before Zhuang Zhou could counter, the analysis video arrived.

The Lightning Knight's assault appeared exceptionally clear in slow motion, pushing speed and agility to the limit. As long as one hit landed, it could follow up with continuous strikes against the cumbersome Armor Tiger. There was nothing to say about the Lightning Knight's movements; they were quite flashy. As for the Armor Tiger, it moved significantly almost the instant the Lightning Knight acted. Although the movements were large, the frequency was high, and the range was wide. Every displacement was at the terminal distance of the Lightning Knight's chain attacks... missing by just a tiny bit.

The right side displayed the professional technical term: Paper Dodge.

It means completely insighting the opponent's movements and the mecha's performance to perform a dodge with minimal movement, while simultaneously achieving the effect of completely avoiding the opponent's attack.

And this is a type of maneuver that showcases the maximization of technique and control when a Light Type mecha faces a Heavy Armor.

The entire venue was in an uproar, especially the students from the major military academies. It was fine for other federations, but here in the USE, basically whenever there was a Puppet livestream, B-level Academies were all broadcasting it, and A-level Academies would also choose to broadcast it when they didn't have their own students competing.

As a military academy student, using Paper Dodge against a Light Type mecha with a Heavy Armor was equivalent to saying, "You are trash."

And Puppet was facing a Concept Mech.

However, when Puppet's first counterattack opportunity was shown in slow motion, those who had been arguing fell into complete silence.

The Armor Tiger threw a punch, then pulled it back just as it was about to hit the opponent. Because the movement was too fast, the crowd saw the Lightning Knight use maneuvers to dodge a potential attack.

This... how little did he regard his opponent as a person?

Clearly, Mashu on the other side felt it, which was why he hesitated. As the person involved, he doubted whether he was fast or if the opponent had given him an opening, because being in the thick of it, he couldn't fully judge.

"This is why he can only be a professional player. With his level, special forces wouldn't do this. He should have sensed the opponent's level during the first wave of attacks, yet he was still there showing off. His combat power and combat awareness have declined too quickly."

The one who could say such incisive words was, of course, their Team Leader Dita.

"Haha, Team Leader, we know that, but after all, it is a Lightning Knight. And having suffered a loss once, he should have learned his lesson. Besides, how could he damage the mecha like that? The destructive power is a bit excessive, isn't it?" Alzi said with a smile.

And in fact, this was also what all the experts were puzzled about.

The final attack was entirely the performance limit of the Lightning Knight mecha. Its own powerful performance, combined with the slightly lower gravity of the Moon, would create a hovering impact effect. In terms of hard maneuvers, Mashu had no faults.

But the problem was, at that very moment, the Armor Tiger used—Heavy Armor Sudden Flash!

At this moment, the analysis video faded out the dust effects. Was it a Heavy Armor charge?

No, it was a half-step lunge, pulling away by half a body length. Once a high-speed attack like the Flash Knight's enters its peak state, it is completely impossible to reverse. And this sudden lateral movement by the Armor Tiger made it very difficult for the opponent to react.

The next second, everyone's eyes widened. What kind of weapon was that!

In an instant, accompanied by a roar, the Armor Tiger threw a punch at its opponent. Yet, with just that one punch, it directly punched through the opponent's mecha. Not only that, but it was visible to the naked eye that within half a second, the entire surface of the mecha shattered.

This...

????

A bug???