The New Team's Storm Returns

The first day of the collaboration. Wizard Air White Witch's Solo Run. The Newborn Team Diafl's Gust of Wind. Those two things defined the first week. What will the second week bring? Here are today's matches!

LJ Ravens, who started the season with four straight losses. It's time for them to climb back up! After three opening wins followed by one loss, can the storm blow again? This is the showdown between LJ, hungry for their first win of the season, and Diafl, aiming to whip up another whirlwind!

The eight hundred seats at Cheongju Electronics Park sold out for the first time since the season opener. The roar of eight hundred fans reached all the way to the players.

“Diafl, fighting!! You can even beat peak LJ!!!!”

“Peak LJ is the strongest in the world!! LJ, fighting!!”

Moon Naru looked at her team's stands, now packed for the first time since joining Diafl Monarch.

“Our side's already sold out too, huh.”

LJ wasn't exactly unpopular, but a brand-new team like Diafl had even less to work with.

“LJ is like a bitcoin team. Their highs and lows go way beyond imagination.”

“Their season finale was pretty bad, though.”

There are two words that perfectly describe the LJ Ravens since 2023: Roller Coaster and Bitcoin. Their peaks are as high as Everest, their valleys as deep as the Mariana Trench. No one can predict whether they'll hit a high or a low next.

Set 1 — DFL V-Killer versus LJ Knight Raven.

The appearance of Knight Raven sent the LJ fans into a frenzy.

“The Night Raider, Knight Raven!! We're winning this set for sure!!!”

On the other hand, the Diafl fans felt overwhelmed just hearing the name.

“Hang in there… Moon Naru… V-Killer…!”

Moon Naru decided to go with the most defensive configuration possible: a three-blade disk plus skirt. (Knight Raven…? If I go head-to-head, I'll get shredded a hundred percent… Better play defensively!)

Knight Raven had a silhouette like a stealth fighter. At the front sat a low, lawnmower-style horizontal spinner disk. Every side — front, back, left, right — was covered in sloped armor. Even the top was sloped, with a particularly high rear slope. Its ground clearance was extremely low, and it was further protected by a skirt.

“The paint job is different from the usual V-Killer, right?”

“They’re doing a collaboration with Sia Live for a week.”

“Every robot from Diafl will be running this color scheme.”

Although the two machines had similar structures, their drive power was clearly different. Knight Raven’s wheels were relatively small, resulting in lower torque.

“They look alike, but their personalities are completely different.”

“V-Killer is a rampaging beast, while Raven is a midnight raider…!”

Once again, V-Killer charged forward aggressively, as if determined to win by weapon contact. It looked like a starving predator that had finally spotted a delicious meal.

“They’re clashing right from the start, and neither is getting pushed back!”

Disks have the advantage of low recoil and staying spun up once accelerated. Their drawbacks are long ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠spin-up time and relatively weak impact force.

“Looking at it now, V-Killer’s color scheme really resembles a high school uniform!”

“Like a high schooler transported to another world and causing total chaos, right?”

The navy, orange, and white combination did look a lot like Korean middle and high school uniforms.

“V-Killer’s skirt looks ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠like a hanbok skirt.”

“Meanwhile Raven’s is more like a miniskirt, yet their playstyles are complete opposites!!”

“It’s trying to climb on top… No!! What is this!!!”

Knight Raven tried to ride up onto V-Killer’s large wheels. In response, V-Killer spun and counterattacked, ripping off two of Raven’s skirts. It was like watching someone try to kick their opponent only to get hit in the groin.

“It went for the weak point but only managed to lose its own skirt!!”

“Did it get confused while controlling a different robot!!”

Robots with small wheels can become immobilized if something climbs on top of them.

“Now there’s a gap underneath! It’s going straight for the wheels!!”

One of Knight Raven’s wheels shattered. At the same time, its center of gravity shifted so badly that its remaining wheels couldn’t make contact, leaving it completely stuck.

“Yesss~! Crow hunting successful!!!”

0:44. It was a battle between two similar yet different machines. The critical mistake of trying to climb onto V-Killer with those small wheels. That single error shattered the balance of the match. Maybe the pilot had gotten confused while controlling a different robot earlier.

Set 2 — DFL Hapagonis versus LJ Tykeel.

Tykeel was a robot equipped with a rotating chainsaw arm that came down like a hammer. The name came from the English name of the tiger keelback snake. The front was shaped like trapezoidal sloped armor, designed to dig under opponents. It could be swapped for a wedge when needed. On top sat a long frill-like arm ending in a spinning saw blade.

The tiger keelback is the most venomous terrestrial snake in East Asia. Its venom is stronger than that of the infamous black mamba, the devil of Africa. Its temperament is so gentle and its venom yield so low that accidents are almost nonexistent. Though history is full of records of people dying from it.

“It can shred the top plate of an attack-type robot in no time!!”

“Hapagonis is meeting it head-on!!”

“The blade is pretty big, so it’s easy to snap arms too!!”

Tykeel skillfully dodged the attacks and tore into Hapagonis’s top plate. It looked like a venomous snake biting the wings of a peregrine falcon while avoiding its sharp talons.

“Tykeel slips away like a snake sliding through a fence!”

“Hapagonis’s top plate is pretty badly torn!!”

Even so, Hapagonis’s drive was still intact. It flipped Tykeel over. Though Tykeel righted itself immediately, Hapagonis continued shredding its upper section. At this rate, whether by KO or judges’ decision, Hapagonis was guaranteed to lose.

“It’s that torn up and it’s still moving? What incredible durability!”

Its circuit durability was excellent, so the drive system remained unaffected.

“If it takes another hit there, the internals will be completely destroyed, right?”

One more solid strike and the inside would be totally wrecked.

“Wait a second, Tykeel’s chainsaw just stopped?!?!”

It seemed a piece of Hapagonis had jammed Tykeel’s spinning saw. The chainsaw hadn’t been working for a while now.

“That terrifying chainsaw has already stopped!!”

“There’s almost no way to win now!!”

It was like the electric-saw murderer had lost his saw. Hapagonis, no longer afraid, immediately went after Tykeel’s arm.

“Is there any way to win now?! It flips it over!!”

Normally, it could have righted itself just by moving its arm. But now the arm was on the verge of breaking off completely, leaving no way to recover.

1:43. A venomous snake that had lost its fangs was utterly helpless. The moment the chainsaw stopped, the win-probability graph flipped completely.

They had deployed their two most consistent aces in sets one and two. Knight Raven and Tykeel had both been utterly crushed. The other robots showed roller-coaster levels of inconsistency. Right now, that roller coaster had plunged a hundred meters underground.

Set 3 — DFL First Steel versus LJ Witchs’ Trophy.

The nine-member multinational girl group Pahpilioh SPP’s digital single Witchs’ Trophy. The title symbolizes “something that seems like it should exist but doesn’t.”

The battle robot Witchs’ Trophy was a square-bodied machine equipped with a long, thin blade. It possessed the very feature from the original song that should exist but didn’t: it was equipped with AI and could move autonomously. It was the first in RCLK and one of the very few in the world. Regulations limited the number of sets in which AI autonomous control could be used. The rule had been introduced across all leagues in 2021. Yet by 2023, across six major leagues, it had never once been activated. No matter how advanced AI technology became, it was only used during the design phase — never during actual matches.

A common weakness of overhead-blade robots is that they struggle to attack opponents with low ground clearance.

“The spin-up time is quite long for Witchs’ Trophy.”

Witchs’ Trophy kept spinning in circles, waiting for its blade to accelerate. It seemed the AI hadn’t come up with any brilliant new strategies yet.

“Why is it charging in before it’s fully accelerated?”

This AI was doing something weird. It was trying to attack before the blade had even reached full speed.

“It did manage to lift it, but there’s no acceleration!”

“It’s just getting pushed around and that’s it!!”

Witchs’ Trophy’s blade was long and thin. That shape inevitably meant a long time to reach full speed relative to its power.

“On the other hand, First Steel’s blade accelerates extremely quickly.”

“Still, because it’s a horizontal spinner, there’s a slight opening.”

First Steel kept its distance during that brief acceleration window. The moment the blade was fully spun up, it charged straight in.

“First Steel strikes WT’s pole!!”

“The pole bent and it flipped over at the same time!!”

That pole was meant to help it self-right when flipped. Because of its shape, it couldn’t be made to drive while inverted. Now the pole had broken.

1:07. Whether the AI was stupid or the match was just disappointing, it was over in a flash. The weaknesses of overhead spinners had been laid bare far too clearly. It couldn’t move once flipped, so they added a pole — which then broke.

The match is over! Three to zero! The newborn team’s storm is going to blow once again!