BATTLE FOR STARS

Lina closed in on Ding Yufei and threw a punch at his shoulder. But before her fist fully extended, she triggered an engine surge. The mech suddenly accelerated, cutting toward Ding Yufei’s flank. At the same time, her punch shifted direction, racing faster toward his abdomen.

Ding Yufei reacted instantly. During their earlier exchanges, he had already realized he couldn’t match Lina’s speed. Against attacks driven by engine surges, the only viable option was evasion. Without hesitation, he activated his own engine surge to dodge.

Lina’s burst lasted only a fraction of a second. The moment she saw Ding Yufei shift away, she triggered another surge and immediately pursued him. Her goal was simple—never let him have time to reset.

As expected, the moment Ding Yufei came to a stop and had barely stabilized his stance, Lina was already upon him. Her fist followed right behind. Ding Yufei had no choice but to activate engine surge again to escape. But the one being chased was always at a disadvantage. Lina closed the distance effortlessly once more.

From above, the two mechs looked like shadows in a chase, constantly swapping positions at high speed. They nearly collided several times. After being forced back repeatedly, Ding Yufei finally realized he couldn’t get away. The gap between them was steadily shrinking.

On his next stop after an engine surge, he didn’t retreat again. Instead, he planted himself firmly and threw a punch backward. He didn’t know what he could hit—he only aimed in the direction Lina was coming from, hoping to force her back. If it landed, that would be even better.

But in Lina’s eyes, this kind of sudden counterattack was predictable. Stopping to strike meant a clear drop in speed, and every shift was already visible to the pursuer. Avoiding it was effortless.

She adjusted her engine surge slightly and slipped past the punch, then immediately attacked from his flank. Ding Yufei quickly retracted his arm to defend, but before he could fully pull back, Lina had already shifted again using another burst. She moved less than a meter sideways, then struck toward his waist.

Ding Yufei was stunned by her chained movements. He no longer had time to block with his arm. He raised his right leg instead, trying to use the heavier armor on his shin to absorb the blow. But halfway through lifting it, Lina shifted again.

This time she went straight for his only support—the left leg. With another precise engine surge and a follow-up punch, her fist landed squarely on his lower leg.

A dull impact echoed.

Ding Yufei’s left leg buckled. He lost balance and tilted sideways. Before his mech even hit the ground, Lina had already closed in again and struck him hard across the body.

The mech crashed heavily to the ground.

Lina followed through, pressing in and delivering several “critical” strikes to key areas. Though her movements looked forceful, she was still operating a training mech and deliberately held back. The blows were light—enough for impact feedback, not damage. After all, repairing broken mechs cost money.

Ding Yufei finally climbed back up.

“That was amazing,” he said, excitement in his voice. “This is exactly the kind of mech combat I imagined. Lina, I lost this round. How about another match?”

“No,” Lina replied. “You wouldn’t win the next one either. And honestly… beating you wasn’t that easy for me either. Let’s stop here. Your mech already has several minor damages. If we keep going and break it, it’ll be troublesome.”

“Alright then.”

Ding Yufei didn’t insist. His goal had already been satisfied.

He climbed out of the cockpit, grabbed his clothes, and hurried toward the rest area for a shower. Without a tight combat suit, his skin felt uncomfortable after the session.

Soon after, both of them finished cleaning up and came out.

“Ding Yufei, I didn’t expect your mech control to be this smooth,” Lina said as soon as she saw him.

“But I still got defeated pretty easily,” he replied, somewhat frustrated. “In my view, Taiji should be able to handle fast attacks. There’s a saying—‘all techniques in the world can be broken by speed.’ My Taiji works against ordinary fast attacks, but against your kind of high-speed chained engine surges… it doesn’t seem to work at all.”

“Easily?” Lina shook her head. “I didn’t beat you easily. I used my full strength.”

“Really? You looked pretty relaxed.”

“That was just your impression. I was at full output the entire time. No need to be modest.”

She paused slightly, then added honestly:

“If I had weapons, it would’ve been easier. A high-frequency blade would make your defenses a lot harder to handle.”

Ding Yufei thought about it. Taiji did include blade techniques. If he used Taiji Saber, he might be able to block normal attacks. But against continuous engine-surge movement, it would still be extremely difficult.

“Your strength is definitely above mine,” he admitted. “Without engine surge, I might still hold out for a while. With it… I’d lose for sure.”

“That’s because you’re not fully familiar with engine surge yet,” Lina said seriously. “If you mastered it completely—with your reaction speed—you could probably match me.”

Then she looked at him with curiosity.

“By the way, your technique is really unusual. It was hard for me to deal with. It always felt like my force had nowhere to go. Can you tell me how exactly you were blocking my attacks?”

“Taiji,” Ding Yufei said with a smile. “It’s a combat technique from our planet. If you want, I can teach you.”

“Sure. But first explain this—why do your movements look slow, yet they can still block my attacks?”

Ding Yufei recalled his master’s words.

Human beings have two types of force generation.

One is the muscle-tension method. It uses the body’s energy by tightening muscles to store force, then releasing it through contraction. This is how ordinary walking and movement work.

The other is the internal method used in Taiji. It abandons muscular tension. Instead, it generates force through whole-body compression and rotation in a relaxed state, producing downward force through leg drive against the ground, using the ground’s reaction force to amplify power.