Round Two: The Group of Death Delivers the Unexpected
The short break ended, and the second round of the national tournament's Group H began. “This time, I’m definitely going to win…! My first opponent in round two is… Pentagon?”
(Pentagon… what should I use against them? This time it’s firepower versus firepower!)
Group H, Round 2, Match 1 — V-Killer versus P3nTa9on. The match begins.
Once again, the blades clash right from the start. (Doesn’t this mean I’m way stronger?)
As if to prove that V-Killer was far superior, P3nTa9on was pushed back much harder. (I’ll wait until it’s fully accelerated… now!)
V-Killer’s blade had reached perfect speed. It completely ripped P3nTa9on’s blade out of its housing. It looked like watching a lightsaber slice an opponent’s arm clean off from the shoulder.
(Now how are you going to win? By shoving?)
P3nTa9on led with its rear lifter, trying to push forward and at least steal a judges’ decision. (Even if you lift me, I can just slip right out~!)
P3nTa9on shoved from behind and tried to flip it, but V-Killer escaped with ease. It was like watching an armored vehicle casually pull itself out of a swamp.
In the end, P3nTa9on simply stopped moving.
“Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one! Pentagon KO! V-Killer wins!”
A KO victory in just 0:32. It was sweet revenge for the first round.
The overwhelming dominance P3nTa9on had shown in round one was gone. The machine looked slightly unsteady now.
“Kyah! Round-one revenge, complete!”
V-Killer’s next opponent was KonKoarde. Having crushed the first round, Moon Naru felt confident.
“Next opponent is… Concord, huh? I’ll win this one too!”
(This time I’ll go with the red cross. I’ll fight safely.)
Round 2, Match 2. KonKoarde versus V-Killer. The match begins.
(A disc accelerates slower at the start, but it loses less speed when it hits!)
Switching to the disc had made weapon spin-up a little slower. Still, V-Killer showed impressive acceleration.
(The most vulnerable moment… is right now!!)
The instant KonKoarde tried to throw V-Killer, two rapid hits flew in. It made perfect use of the disc’s advantages — low recoil and minimal speed loss.
(I might KO them even faster than in round one?)
V-Killer tore off KonKoarde’s lifter and left armor plate. Even though the hits carried slightly less raw power, they were still devastating. V-Killer immediately attacked the exposed internals through the broken armor.
“Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one! Concord KO! V-Killer wins!”
0:27. Three solid hits and a faster KO than round one, even while using a lower-impact weapon.
“Hang on, let me check the standings…”
A quick summary of the other matches looked like this.
The mid-round standings with only two matches left looked like this.
1st — P3nTa9on — 4 wins 1 loss — Perfect in Round 1, 1 match remaining
2nd — V-Killer — 3 wins 2 losses — 1 match remaining
3rd — Scary — 2 wins 2 losses — 2 matches remaining
4th — KonKoarde — 1 win 5 losses — 0-2 in Round 2, matches complete, elimination confirmed
KonKoarde couldn’t overcome its poor performance from round one and crashed out in fourth place at lightspeed. It was like watching a supersonic airliner slam into wreckage and explode.
“What’s wrong with Concord? That robot definitely wasn’t supposed to be this bad.”
“I heard they bought counterfeit screws from an overseas site.”
A normal KonKoarde was actually quite a sturdy machine. They’d ordered screws from abroad, but received fakes with less than sixty percent of the proper strength. They used them without inspection and ended up with one win and five losses — total collapse.
“Counterfeit screws can make airplanes crash. This was bound to happen.”
“Next match… it’s against Cheong-bi, huh?”
“Even if you beat me, get ready for a friendship-destroying tiebreaker!”
“Ha, you really think that’s gonna happen?”
(I’ll play the most defensively possible. Triple-blade disc with a skirt!)
Round 2, Match 3 — V-Killer versus Scary. The match begins.
(That Naru bastard. She won’t even wear a skirt herself but she stuck one on her robot.)
Scary clearly planned to fight by throwing. It led with its rear vertical blade.
V-Killer’s skirt refused to be lifted easily. In a way, it really was made of solid steel.
(It doesn’t matter if it gets flipped, but it still earns points!)
Scary slammed into V-Killer’s sloped armor with its horizontal disc and got flipped. But its drive system was completely unaffected. It moved like a figure skater, spinning elegantly and trying to scratch V-Killer.
(If you move like that, I can’t show off my own flashy maneuvers!)
V-Killer attacked Scary’s lower wheels with its undercutter disc. The auxiliary wheel on Scary’s left drive popped out like popcorn.
(It can’t move in all four directions anymore, but it’s not completely immobilized!)
(There’s no sloped armor here!)
V-Killer climbed onto Scary and struck the vertical blade’s axle. Like a shallow-rooted tree ripped out by a typhoon, one of Scary’s vertical blades was torn free.
(Even so, they still have one weapon left…)
“Kyaaaaaaaah!!”
Scary climbed onto V-Killer and attacked. In an instant it shattered all of V-Killer’s large exposed wheels. It looked like someone cracking open a lobster to eat it.
(That pterodactyl scream again… Cheong-bi you ##@$!!)
“Ten! Nine! Eight! Seven! Six! Five! Four! Three! Two! One! V-Killer KO! Scary wins!”
“I lost again, but I’ll win the friendship-destroying tiebreaker that’s coming up!”
“Hmph! I’m going to face Pentagon in the tiebreaker, so you can drop to third place!”
They were best friends, so this level of trash talk was only possible between them.
With only the final match remaining, here were the current standings.
1st — P3nTa9on — 4 wins 1 loss — Perfect in Round 1, advancement confirmed, 1 match remaining
2nd — Scary — 3 wins 2 losses — 1 match remaining
3rd — V-Killer — 3 wins 3 losses — Advancement/elimination undecided
4th — KonKoarde — 1 win 5 losses — 0-2 in Round 2
Final match of Round 2 — P3nTa9on versus Scary. The match begins.
(This time fighting with the rear vertical is the right move~!)
Scary led with its rear vertical spinner. (I’ll flip you like a top~! Pentagon~!)
P3nTa9on struck Scary’s front and got flipped. It looked like someone slamming into a wall, getting hurt, and bouncing away.
As expected, P3nTa9on returned to its upright lifter configuration. (You’re lifted now? I’ll end this right away~!)
After fighting three matches in one day, Scary’s skirt was badly worn. It looked like someone had scraped a credit card across asphalt.
(If I throw it vertically from here… it’s over!!)
Scary pushed P3nTa9on all the way to the edge of the out-of-bounds zone, then hurled it out like a basketball player making a free throw.
“Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one! Pentagon out-of-bounds loss! Scary wins!”
P3nTa9on suffered an out-of-bounds loss in just 1:11, but it still forced a tiebreaker. The problem was that the tiebreaker would be between Scary and P3nTa9on.
“Naru~! Your friendship got destroyed without even needing a tiebreaker~! I’m heading to the round of sixteen!”
After a ten-minute break, Scary and P3nTa9on played their tiebreaker. After a brutal 2:22 slugfest where both machines’ weapons eventually stalled, P3nTa9on emerged victorious. In the final moments, Scary’s wheels shattered like a poorly constructed building and stopped moving. After four straight matches, it was perfectly understandable.
1st — P3nTa9on — 4 wins 2 losses — Perfect in Round 1, TB win
2nd — Scary — 4 wins 2 losses — Perfect in Round 2, TB loss
3rd — V-Killer — 3 wins 3 losses — —
4th — KonKoarde — 1 win 5 losses — 0-2 in Round 2
P3nTa9on had been badly shaken in round two but still advanced to the round of sixteen. Scary had shattered both expectations and friendships to reach the same stage. V-Killer had shown excellent performance yet was eliminated. And KonKoarde, thanks to counterfeit screws, had suffered a lightning-fast last-place exit with one win and five losses.
(I didn’t make it to the round of sixteen, but I fought well! There’s nothing stopping me from going pro!)
Moon Naru sat in her father’s car on the way home, lost in thought.
The domestic tournament ended. Time passed, and it was now mid-November 2023. The battle robot pro leagues were in their stove league period. With no exhibition matches to play, Moon Naru stayed home doing nothing but research.
She read stove-league articles. Depending on how things developed, her own future would be decided — whether she could join a team, and if so, which one.
Cheongcheon Scienwings Announces Dissolution After Five Years of History
“They barely left any footprint, so dissolving them doesn’t really matter…”
It had been a team with neither popularity nor career achievements. If you had to point to anything, the only thing they’d left in RCLK history was one notoriously terrible match. A clean dissolution wasn’t a bad choice at all.