Not even a minute past since the battle started, and I was already down one heavy hitter. But I also gathered some data.

Alice, unlike her insane offensive capability, lacks defensive abilities, and though she managed to block my bullets, that's because she redirected most of her aura to the defensive. In short, she has lots of it, that's what all my sensors say, but her control over it is weak.

My best option is to take her down with a surprise attack when she goes on the offensive.

But that is easier said than done.

Alice lunged towards a squad of sentries. She shattered one sentry’s core with a kick powered by her aura and split the machine’s body into two with a metallic crunch accompanied by a reverberating clang. 

She swiftly turned her focus to the nearest sentry and fired an energy wave by expertly swinging her sword toward her target. The projectile sliced through the machine, cleanly cleaving it into two, and caused its batteries to detonate and create a shockwave that pushed all the dust and particles away.

My robots barely had time to turn around and start firing, and since their program stops all friendly fire, they struggle against Alice moving between targets at speeds they can’t follow.

One can’t achieve victory without sacrifices. [Friendly fire tolerated, just rain hell on that thing.]

With my command, my robots fired their second volley, instantly destroying the last two sentries from the squad Alice attacked but cornering her.

“I suppose your defenses were not as durable as you make it out to be?”

Suddenly, a large energy blade passed centimeters away from my head and destroyed a WWP standing behind me.

“Hah! You need more than some bullets to take me down.” She shouted with an even more energetic voice, but when the dust settled, I saw her armor damaged from all the bullets.

Did she tank all those bullets just to charge a single attack? This battle will be more dangerous than I expected.

Without giving my robots time to reload, she started her second assault. Alice blitzed through my robots, destroying them by exploding, slashing, or crushing them using her superhuman strength and aura.

And in less than a minute, she cleared all my army, though she took damage in the process. My sensors show that her breathing got faster, and my eyes say her perfect stance broke.

I need to take her guard down and land a series of hits while she is tired.

[Give full throttle to thrusters] 

Thrusters behind my armor roared, and in a second, I launched myself toward my opponent.

My first punch got deflected with a loud bang. The clash of her powered Starmetal sword and an iron fist shook the ground. Though none of us got the advantage from this attack, I managed to push her back a bit.

Encouraged by that, I pushed my assault. I relentlessly attacked Alice with devastating punches. My opponent once again proved herself to be ‘her’ by expertly avoiding or at least redirecting my blows, each powerful enough to shatter a concrete wall.

My attack kept going until.

“ENOUGH!” Alice leaped forward with a war cry and headbutted my armor, momentarily cutting its momentum, then she kicked it into the ground, destroying all balance I had.

But a single headbutt wasn’t enough. Alice grabbed the armor from its shoulders and kept headbutting like a savage, slowly cracking her and my helmet.

Alright, this is getting ridiculous.

[Eject!]

With my command, battlearmor did a forced horizontal ejection, which I didn’t enjoy, but after seeing Alice shatter the helmet of my main armor, I am glad I did it.

“Did they find you in a wild animals inn or something? What kind of savagery is that!” I shouted while getting up.

“Oh, don’t be mean. This is just doing whatever to ensure victory! After all, our enemies are savage animals, aren't they? It is only fair to play by their rule.” She climbed to the armor like a lioness who hunted an elephant. “Now ready to die?”

"Thank you for your kind offer." I looked at my arm as if there was a watch.  “But I got no time left for today.” Battlearmors AI activated and locked Alice in a bear hug. “Good luck getting out of that one!” I added with a mocking tone. 

[Main gun, fire!]

The charging sounds of the UAV echoed inside the arena.

Alice looked up and laughed. "You son of a. You didn't use that machine for once and hoped for me to ignore its existence, smart." The glow of her sword faded, and she began glowing this time. "But one trick is not enough.”

She charged herself with aura and blew herself. The explosion blasted away the battlearmor.

"Still, too late," I said, and the energy beam fired its shot, and a radiant light blinded the entire arena. "Good luck surviving that."

The energy beam destroyed Alice's shield, and the shockwave from the attack threw me away. The excess energy scattered around shattered the ground with a roar, throwing debris left and right. 

After the attack ended and the machine cooled down, I opened my eyes and saw Alice still standing.

She stood precariously, swaying on unsteady legs, barely able to maintain her balance after enduring the energy beam. Her every breath was a struggle, her armor barely standing, and her eyes, bloodshot and weary, revealed the depth of her fatigue, yet Alice stood.

But Judge and the doctors watching the match didn’t think the same, and with their order, a medical squad with Crusaders' emblem on their clothes rushed in to check on her.

“She is good.” One of them shouted after a short check. “Not in a position to keep the match going, but the little lady will live without any lasting injuries, though some scars from this attack are inevitable.” There was some relaxation in his voice.

I left the arena and stumbled on Chancellor and my father in the corridors.

He forcefully grabbed my hand and shook it. “Mister Leonard, what a magnificent performance. I thought my favorite would lose for a second, but you won with your trap.”

Father nodded. “I should get used to these moments now you finished all the entry tasks.”

“Yes, yes. I should start working on that, but I would like to eat a meal and take a day off first.” 

“Oh, for that.” Chancellor pulled out a now considered ancient flip phone with a remarkably long antenna and offered it to me. “Keep this with you. Has some important numbers that you can call in case you need help.”

I grabbed the phone and then flipped it on and off. It felt nice. “Well, that's very kind of you.”

A large smile appeared on the Chancellor's face. He raised his hand with the palm facing outward and made a slight waving motion. “Consider this my generosity, now well” He turned back into his serious state. “As much as I like to stay and chit-chat, I still need to govern the governments so they don’t start proxy wars with each other and turn the world into hell. Have a good day, gentleman.” And he teleported away.

Father sighed. "That guy is finally gone, now I can talk." He pulled out a cigarette from his pocket and put it in his mouth. "I don't have much to say except congrats. You took down the Crusaders' shining star in a duel."

I dusted my hands. "Well, it was all calculated. She could have won if she wasn't so blinded by battle rage."

"Yeah, yeah, now, let's put your 'obvious' victory aside, I will be busy for a while, so I won't be able to go with you on your recruitment visits. You gotta find somebody else to escort you."

I smirked. "And by that somebody, who you mean?"

"That somebody is in Prague, or at least was there when I last left her. I leave the rest to you." He turned around. "Now, come, I am hungry as well. Let's go out and eat something."