"Five, six!" When Ling Lan counted to six, the combo had finally ended!
After taking Ling Lan's final hit, Zhao Jun's mecha plummeted into the ground as he spat out another mouthful of blood. He felt like he was going to die. He had always known that Boss Lan's combo could go on for more than five hits, but no one really knew how many exactly, the reason being that Boss Lan would never show it to her companions during bouts among themselves. He didn't understand why at the time; instead, he believed that she was keeping it as a trump card, without wanting to reveal it. Now he understood that the reason why Boss Lan did not use it was because somebody would die the moment it was used.
Zhao Jun thought he was going to draw his last breath, but unexpectedly his vitality was very strong; despite being so close to death and in so much pain, he didn't faint and was able to survive.
When Zhao Jun regained consciousness, he saw Ling Lan's figure, so tall and domineering as if looking down on the world. This made him feel like an insignificant ant ready for Ling Lan's executioner's blade.
This feeling pained Zhao Jun's heart deeply and a strong sense of humiliation rushed to his head! He suddenly had an epiphany. It seemed like his abilities didn't even enter Boss Lan's eyes. He was probably only compelled to accept Zhao Jun into his battalion because of his old friend Li Lanfeng! He hadn't thought that he would one day need connections to get into a battalion because of his inadequate abilities! This humiliation made Zhao Jun almost bite off his tongue."Ohhh!" Zhao Jun screamed angrily.
No, I will not allow anyone to look down on me. Even if I'm from a third-rate planet and not as talented as Qi Long, I will use my abilities to let Boss Lan know that other than him, I am the second strongest in the squadron. I will not lose to Qi Long!
Zhao Jun's unwillingness to give up made him forget the immense pain. Piloting his mecha, he quickly sprang up to his feet. His left hand suddenly gripped his sword which was previously only held with his right. Wielding the sword with both hands, he abruptly directed it straight towards Ling Lan.
Ling Lan had stopped attacking entirely after the six combo attack, merely watching coldly from the distance. Perhaps Ling Lan was being generous. It was because she thought that after the fifth hit, Zhao Jun would no longer be able to fight.
When she saw Zhao Jun clenching his weapon readying for more, she swung the large sword in her right hand and said coldly, "Not going to give up? You want to fight back? That's too bad. You will never be on par with me!"
Zhao Jun didn't really hear what Ling Lan said. He just silently looked at his opponent, gripping his cold weapon. It seemed that after a single second, his flickering emotions became calm and at peace.
Maybe Ling Lan was in his line of sight or maybe she wasn't. He didn't hear, see or feel anything, as if he had lost his five senses and turned into a statue—he began to forget who he was. His entire body and mind became unreactive, his mind finally going completely blank.Zhao Jun had entered a mysterious world of his own and this seemed to only last for an instant, but also felt like thousands of years.
Zhao Jun, who had gone into a meditative state, did not realize that the intensity of his aura was rising boundlessly. He moved, his fingers suddenly beginning to dance about. In the beginning, he could still see his fingers turning into afterimages, but afterwards even those afterimages had disappeared. Yes, that's right—Zhao Jun's fingers had vanished. It seemed that his fingers' speed had surpassed the limit of special-class mecha operators, the level of "Shadow", and reached the level of "Void" which only ace operators could achieve.
Zhao Jun's mecha shot towards Ling Lan like a cannonball! He yelled, "Chain combo!"
Only chain combos could spell trouble for the formidable Boss Lan; though, his chain combo could only go up to four hits. Whether he could manage the fifth hit depended on his condition, but this couldn't compare to Boss Lan's six-chain combo. However, this was his strongest attack!
Zhao Jun knew very well that other high-level skills and special techniques would not affect Boss Lan. Having battled with Boss Lan so many times, what hadn't he used before? He still got beaten in the end, didn't he?
"Come, let's go!" called out Ling Lan upon seeing Zhao Jun executing his chain combo, and she operated her mecha to engage using a chain combo.
"Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!" Five consecutive and loud sounds of cold weapons clashing rang out. Without thinking, Zhao Jun was even able to easily perform a five-hit combo. He felt that this wasn't his limit and continued to move his fingers, and he managed to perform an unprecedented sixth strike.
"Clang!" The sixth hit was successfully performed. Ling Lan also used her own sixth hit to block!
But no, this wasn't his limit—Zhao Jun's fingers continued to operate without hindrance, as he performed his seventh combo hit!
"Boom!" Zhao Jun's huge sword struck Ling Lan's mecha, sending it flying with a tumultuous force. Just when Zhao Jun wanted to follow up with an attack, his vision blurred and he returned back to the arena.
That mysterious room disappeared along with Boss Lan who he was in battle with. He only saw Zhou Chao-Ling on the opposite side who was preparing for the next round of attacks.
"Beep, beep, beep!" The A.I. of Zhao Jun's mecha alerted him of the condition of the mecha, "Damage to the joint on the right arm has increased by 1.6%! Now at a total of 11.3%!"
"I see, the damage to the joint has already passed 10%. I can't waste anymore time." Although Zhao Jun didn't really understand what had happened just now, he knew that he had achieved a breakthrough in that mindspace. However, he didn't know whether it could be used in real combat.
Zhao Jun's fingers moved similarly to how they did in the mindspace, dancing around rapidly, changing from fingers clearly visible to afterimages, then from afterimages to complete disappearance.
His mecha was previously holding the sword with both hands at the hilt, but suddenly its left hand moved up one meter; this stance resembled how Japanese samurai would hold their swords. However, the left hand of Zhao Jun's mecha was not holding the sword, but was making a fist to lock it in place.
This change made the audience scream excitedly, "Zhao Jun is going to make a move!"
At that moment, almost every audience member knew that Zhao Jun was in trouble. If he wanted to change his fate, he needed to change. They were all waiting for Zhao Jun to change the pace and now, their wait had paid off.
Zhao Jun's odd way of handling the sword made Zhou Chao-Ling freeze in place. He had initially wanted to go up to him and attack, but he suddenly slowed his advance. Being very careful, he decided to see how the situation played out and then decide how he would continue to fight. He already had the advantage. Zhou Chao-Ling didn't want his opponent to get the upper hand because of his own carelessness.
Just then, Zhao Jun's mecha suddenly began to charge forward. At maximum speed, his mecha appeared as though it was a beam of light, arriving before Zhou Chao-Ling in an instant. That speed had reached the highest speed limit of a special-class mecha and this made Zhou Chao-Ling fail to react in time.
Zhou Chao-Ling was not worried; he led his fingers into a swift dance, making his mecha dart around. His opponent was quick, not giving him enough time to accumulate power into his mecha—if he was to fight in this moment, he would be the one disadvantaged. Zhou Chao-Ling wouldn't make the mistake of taking his opponent head-on.
The two looked as though they were going to pass by each other after Zhou Chao-Ling evaded Zhao Jun's sudden attack, but the left wrist of Zhao Jun's mecha suddenly twisted. The cold weapon of his mecha suddenly shifted from a slashing stance to a horizontal stabbing stance.
"Ah!" This unforeseen change made the audience gasp.
Just as Zhou Chao-Ling was about to be struck by the large sword, he lived up to his name by easily operating his mecha despite the danger hanging over his head. While his fingers danced, the cold weapon in his mecha's hand blocked!
"Clang!" There was a resonant clash. Zhou Chao-Ling had managed to use the bottom of his sword to block the sudden stabbing attack from Zhao Jun.
However, it was still blocked in a hurry and so he could not neutralize the full force of Zhao Jun's attack—his mecha was sent flying by the stab, flying backwards at great speed. Because of this, however, Zhou Chao-Ling was able to leave Zhao Jun's close combat range. This gave a Zhou Chao-Ling a short breather.
However, it was too early for Zhou Chao-Ling to feel relieved. As he started to think about balancing his mecha, he saw Zhao Jun's mecha turn ominously. It was able to neutralize the inertia, turning ninety-degrees and heading directly for him!
This made the audience cry out, many among them looking at Zhao Jun in shock. What was that move? How could he almost completely offset the inertia? Was this an invention of Zhao Jun? Could it be that another personal-name technique had appeared?
This also caused a brilliant gleam to flash in the eyes of Ling Xiao who was sitting on the chairman's podium. He had already tried his best to develop this type of mecha movements which ignored inertia. Although he had made some progress, it had not become a systematic program. He hadn't thought that a cadet would make his theories into reality...
Ling Xiao began to analyze Zhao Jun's movements mentally where countless detailed data and information went through his mind. The gift of Duplication was quite an anomaly. He only had to take one look and he would then be able to find the underlying key points.
No longer troubled by inertia, Zhao Jun did not need time to recover anymore. Zhao Jun's next attack had already arrived before Zhou Chao-Ling could balance his mecha.
"Mecha chain combo!" Everyone all began cheering once Zhao Jun's attack began. They all knew that in one-versus-one battles, Lin Xiao from the First Co-ed Military Academy was able to successfully perform a six-chain combo. How many hits, then, would this special-class operator, Zhao Jun, be able to achieve? Three, four or five hits?
No one thought he could manage to reach six hits because anything above the five-hit chain combo technique could only be performed by ace operators.
"Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!" Four consecutive sounds of cold weapons striking one another rang out. Zhou Chao-Ling's ability to adapt was very strong—he had blocked Zhao Jun's four-hit combo attack. He hoped that the combo would stop there because he knew he was already at his limit.
Unfortunately, his hopes were shattered as Zhao Jun moved on to the fifth strike of his combo! Zhou Chao-Ling bit down hard and wielded his weapon with difficulty.
"Clang!" Following a loud clash, Zhou Chao-Ling's large sword was flung away. Although he had lost his weapon, Zhou Chao-Ling was still able to block Zhao Jun's fifth consecutive strike.
Zhou Chao-Ling took a breather, thinking to himself, 'A five-hit combo is the limit for a special-class operator. There's no way he can manage a sixth strike.'
Right at that moment, Zhao Jun performed the sixth combo hit that no one expected. The entire audience stood up at the sight of this, wearing faces of astonishment, looking at the arena. Zhao Jun and a six-chain combo? Was this real?
The reality of it was as they saw—Zhao Jun had indeed performed a sixth combo hit. At that moment, Zhou Chao-Ling was helpless as Zhao Jun struck him with great force, sending his entire mecha straight down to crash against the ground with great impact.
