IST-3 Sparrow

Laser’s face flushed scarlet at my words, looking ready to lunge at me on the spot, but Yuna beside him held him back.

“I don’t know what you’re thinking...”

Yuna said, looking at me.

Her expression was complicated, yet she made no effort to hide a flicker of interest and anticipation.

“I’ll take it that you’ve accepted Laser’s proposal. And your conditions as well. Laser will use his own machine; you’ll use a mock training unit. It can hardly be called fair… but since you brought this on yourself, it can’t be helped.”

She shot Laser a warning look.

“Laser, cut the pointless provocations. This is only a training exercise. I will not tolerate excessive behavior.”

Laser bit his lip in frustration, but he could not argue further against Yuna’s words and only breathed roughly.

He glared at me as if he meant to kill me, then soon snorted.

“Arrogant as hell. I’ll make you regret this.”

And so our mock battle was decided.

Following Yuna’s guidance, we moved to a massive dome-shaped center.

In one corner of the hangar, a sleek custom mecha of silver and green—clearly Laser’s personal unit, Sylph—stood ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠displaying its imposing presence.

At a glance it was an ace’s dedicated machine specialized for high mobility and precision beam fire.

Opposite it stood the mass-produced mock training unit assigned to me: ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the IST-3 Sparrow.

Its basic performance far outstripped the Bugbear I had been piloting, yet compared to Laser’s Sylph it was little more than a toy.

“Heh heh… You’re going to fight me in that sparrow? Just because there’s a woman watching…”

Laser sneered at the Sparrow.

I ignored his mockery and climbed into the Sparrow’s cockpit.

The interior was simple, as befitting a standard training unit, but with Icarus technology applied, the basic performance and interface were excellent.

In the short time remaining before the start, I quickly checked the machine’s systems.

Main armament: a standard beam rifle and interception missiles.

As a reserve close-combat weapon, a hefty battle axe was mounted at the waist.

I closed my eyes for a moment and reconfirmed the new objective and its reward that had just been added to the system window.

Precision Strike Assist System!

They were offering one of the core parts for a close-combat build as the reward?

Good. Since it’s come to this, I’ll thoroughly stomp him.

I opened my eyes and gripped the controls.

The moment the countdown ended, Laser’s Sylph charged at me at ferocious speed.

His movements were not unpredictable or bizarre like Yuna’s, yet they were orthodox, extremely fast, and aggressive—like a razor blade digging in.

Whoosh!

The beam rifle spat fire and grazed the Sparrow’s flank. I reflexively dodged and opened the distance.

“Your reflexes are certainly fast!”

Laser’s mocking voice came over the comms.

I did not answer his taunt.

Instead I concentrated on missing not a single one of his movements.

His machine’s characteristics, booster usage patterns, weapon firing intervals, habits when turning…

I began analyzing him the way one would tackle a boss in a game.

For now, priority was dodging his attacks while gathering data.

“How far do you plan to run?! I’ll finish this soon enough!”

Seeing me only passively evade, Laser grew even more arrogant and poured on a fierce assault.

He fired the beam rifle in rapid succession while launching the small missiles from his shoulders, pressing me hard.

With the Sparrow’s performance, dodging every attack was impossible.

A few beams grazed the armor; missile fragments battered the frame.

Warning tones filled the cockpit.

Yet I did not panic.

Rather, I was realizing that his attack patterns were simple and predictable.

Overconfident in his machine’s performance and his own skill, he was attacking far too honestly.

In other words, he was careless.

Clear openings began to appear in his movements.

Analysis complete.

I deliberately feigned a slight dig into the line of fire of Laser’s beam rifle, inducing his next attack.

I slipped the beam attack by a paper-thin margin while simultaneously drawing the battle axe from my waist.

“Wha…!”

Laser spat a flustered cry.

He clearly had not expected me to suddenly force close combat.

He tried to pull back, but I did not let him go, igniting the boosters at maximum output and driving straight into his range.

“You crazy bastard!”

Laser hurriedly discarded the beam rifle and tried to shift into a close-defense stance, but it was already too late.

I slammed the battle axe down with full force toward the shoulder joint of his left arm—the very arm that had been holding the beam rifle.

Crunch!

With a dull rupture, Laser’s Sylph’s left arm was severed clean from below the shoulder and crashed to the floor.

Sparks erupted violently amid vivid destruction effects, and a groan close to a scream came over the comms from Laser.

“You—you bastard! How dare you do that to my Sylph!”

He scrambled backward while spraying the handgun from his remaining right arm. But his ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠movements were already well within my predictive range.

Using smooth evasion powered by Kinetic Flow, I slipped every shot and closed the distance once more.

“This can’t be! Why aren’t my attacks landing?!”

Bewilderment and fear mixed in Laser’s voice.

He could not comprehend it—the situation in which a mere training unit was toying with his ace machine.

Crunch!

Using propulsion to dig in low, I smashed the battle axe into the joint below his right knee.

With a hideous rupture the right leg was severed and sent flying; having lost one arm and one leg, the Sylph could no longer keep its balance. It tilted heavily sideways and collapsed miserably onto the floor.

The system warning of Laser’s machine blared loudly.

Standing atop his fallen unit with the battle axe resting on my shoulder, I looked down at him.

Inside the cockpit, Laser could not utter a word, paralyzed by shock and humiliation.

And a new system window rose into my vision.

Inside the control room overlooking the training hangar, Yuna, Titan, and Doctor watched the live feed and cascading data on the large holographic screen in complete silence.

When Laser’s Sylph first began overwhelming the Sparrow, Titan crossed his arms and snorted as if he had expected nothing less.

“No match at all. Comparing a training unit to an ace machine is meaningless from the start.”

Doctor focused intently on the rapidly shifting numerical data behind his glasses.

“Standard evasion maneuvers, composure maintained. On paper, the reaction range of an ordinary rookie pilot, yet…”

Yuna stared at the combat screen without a word.

Her expression was ice-cold, but those silver eyes missed not a single minute movement of Kang Jinwoo’s Sparrow, analyzing every detail.

The way he avoided Laser’s attacks was unnaturally efficient—almost as if he already knew where each shot would come from.

What is he aiming for? He’s so busy dodging that he isn’t even counterattacking.

The situation flipped the instant Kang Jinwoo suddenly drew the battle axe and charged Laser.

The energy graph on the holographic screen spiked violently and blared a warning.

The Sparrow’s reactor output momentarily far exceeded the machine’s rated limits.

“What the hell is that movement?!”

Titan shot to his feet without realizing it.

His eyes were full of bewilderment and shock.

A training unit producing that kind of explosive acceleration was impossible.

“That energy pattern!”

Doctor’s eyes went wide behind his glasses. He shouted in excitement.

“It’s completely ignoring the machine’s limits! How is that level of control even possible?!”

Yuna’s expression hardened ever so slightly.

What followed was nothing short of shocking.

With nothing but that crude battle axe, the training unit began overwhelming Laser’s state-of-the-art custom machine, Sylph.

Laser’s left arm was severed; every energy round from the handgun cut empty air; and finally the right leg was cut away as well, leaving the machine to collapse in ruin—all of it unfolding in an instant.

“That’s impossible.”

Titan muttered blankly, mouth hanging open.

“To wreck it like that with a training unit…”

Doctor was already seated again, frantically recording and analyzing the data, his face flushed with excitement.

“Incredible combat efficiency!”

Yuna quietly watched the final scene.

“Shouldn’t we file an official report to the higher-ups, Yuna? Especially that abnormal energy pattern and the pilot’s reaction-speed data—this is no ordinary matter! We need to begin precision analysis right away…”

At Doctor’s urgent voice, Yuna let out a faint sigh. She gazed at the now-dark holographic table and spoke.

Her tone was calm, yet a trace of weariness clung to it.

“Regardless of whether we report or not,”

she said,

“Laser’s machine is in that state. Word will get out one way or another.”

Her pragmatic observation left Doctor momentarily speechless.

Until then Titan had stood with arms crossed in silence; now he cut in with a low voice.

“Hmph. Enough noise.”

His expression remained sour, yet a more complicated emotion seemed to color his tone than before.

“Why not leave the decision to Laser himself?”

Yuna and Doctor’s gazes turned to him at the same time.

“It’s his machine that got wrecked. Whether he reports that humiliation upstairs or somehow ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠covers it up is Laser’s problem to handle.”

Titan spoke bluntly.

“Besides, that Kang Jinwoo guy is the guest you brought in, Yuna. No need for us to step forward first and make a bigger mess of things.”

His words shifted the matter onto Laser personally while also carefully avoiding placing any blame on Yuna.

Perhaps he simply did not want to get deeply entangled in the situation himself.

At Titan’s words, Yuna fell silent for a moment in thought.

He was right.

Laser’s defeat was also a matter of his pride; there was no need for her to take the initiative, file a report, and complicate everything further.

Yuna gave a faint, wordless nod.

With that, the brief discussion in the control room came to an end.

An unspoken agreement had been reached: Laser’s handling would be left to Laser.

“Let’s do that.”

“Yeah, no complaints from me. He started this mess himself.”

“Dangerous bastard…”

Titan adjusted his sunglasses and stared at the mock training unit Sparrow still standing calmly in the hangar.

If we ever meet as enemies, could I even handle him? What a headache.

An alarm bell rang inside his head.