BATTLE FOR STARS

Julia’s blade suddenly thrust horizontally forward.

At that exact instant, she activated an engine burst.

It was a strike that pushed both her speed and power to their absolute limits.

Lina could only rotate her blade sideways to block in front of herself. At the same time, she used an engine burst to disperse part of the impact force while resisting the attack with everything she had.

But in the next instant, Julia activated Phoenix Dance Across the Heavens once more and closed the distance again.

Another slash came crashing down.

One terrifying strike after another.

Combined with her incredible speed, the attacks rained down like lightning toward Lina.

Lina looked like a lone boat trapped in a violent storm, constantly on the verge of being swallowed by towering waves. Yet every single time, she narrowly broke through one wave after another, only to face the next monstrous surge immediately afterward.

Whether inside the arena or watching through projections elsewhere, every spectator was stunned by Julia’s assault.

Nobody had expected the speed-focused Julia to ultimately decide the match through overwhelming force.

Nobody had expected her to still be capable of using Phoenix Dance Across the Heavens under this kind of heavy offensive pressure.

And even more unbelievable—

Nobody expected Lina to actually withstand such a heaven-shaking assault.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The sounds of collision echoed endlessly through the arena like exploding firecrackers.

Julia moved like a rapidly fluttering butterfly, circling continuously around Lina and unleashing attack after attack.

No one knew who would collapse first.

But everyone knew this was likely the final clash.

Whoever failed to hold on first—

Would lose.

Of course, Julia had never expected Lina to fall so easily.

After everything that had happened earlier, she already understood that Lina had definitely been hiding part of her strength all along.

Defeating her would never be simple.

But Julia still firmly believed that under the combination of Phoenix Dance Across the Heavens and this storm-like barrage, Lina would eventually reveal an opening.

She only needed one.

Just one mistake was enough to determine victory.

But that moment never seemed to arrive.

Nobody paid attention to the time anymore.

Nobody cared about anything else.

Every pair of eyes was completely drawn into the breathtaking life-and-death battle unfolding before them.

Then suddenly—

Julia, who had been flying across the arena at incredible speed, abruptly floated upward like a kite with its string cut.

Her mech staggered through the air like a drunken bird before crashing heavily onto the ground.

Finally, the mech remained motionless in a half-kneeling position.

Even without seeing the mech’s internal data, nearly everyone immediately understood what had happened.

Its energy reserves had been completely exhausted.

For a match to reach this level already meant both fighters had gone beyond their limits.

Lina stood silently in the center of the arena.

She gasped heavily for breath.

The muscles throughout her body trembled slightly.

This was the fiercest and most dangerous battle she had ever experienced in all her years of competition.

She had known from the beginning that she could not endure attacks of this intensity forever.

But Julia couldn’t endure forever either.

Lina had survived purely through willpower alone—

Holding on until her opponent collapsed first.

And now, it seemed victory had finally arrived.

Of course, winning due to an opponent running out of energy was extremely rare, whether in official matches or training bouts.

Especially at Lina’s level.

In recent years, she had practically never encountered such a situation.

Still, she certainly didn’t mind winning this way.

“Kill her!”

“Kill her!”

The chants gradually rose from all around the arena.

Although Julia had just delivered the most spectacular battle many people had ever witnessed, it changed nothing.

According to tradition, this was the moment when the victor harvested the defeated.

Lina took a deep breath.

She tightened her grip on the high-frequency blade and slowly walked toward Julia’s mech.

Step by step.

As though she were walking toward victory itself.

Julia’s mech remained kneeling silently on the ground without any movement.

Lina stopped directly in front of it.

Now, all she needed was a single swing of her blade.

The surrounding cheers had become deafening.

The robotic referee had already flown to the edge of the arena, waiting for the final judgment.

Slowly, Lina raised her blade.

Just as she was about to swing—

Everything changed.

The high-frequency blade of Julia’s kneeling mech suddenly flicked upward.

Then the mech shot forward like an arrow released from a bow, lunging toward Lina with explosive speed.

Julia had been waiting this entire time.

Waiting for Lina to approach.

Waiting for her to raise her blade.

Waiting for the exact moment her body became completely exposed.

This was arguably the most dangerous attack Julia had launched in the entire match.

The distance was perfect.

The angle was perfect.

And the timing—

Perfect.

No one had imagined that even in this situation, Julia would still put on an act, secretly conserving enough energy for one final attack.

No one except one person.

Lina.

The instant Julia’s blade moved, Lina had already activated her engine burst.

But this time, not forward.

Backward.

Julia’s fatal strike missed completely.

Looking at Lina standing safely in the distance, Julia’s entire body trembled as she dropped the high-frequency blade from her hand.

Although she still retained the tiniest bit of remaining energy, she could no longer even perform a basic engine burst.

Against an opponent of this level, that meant she was completely helpless.

The entire arena had fallen silent the moment Julia launched that surprise attack.

Nobody had expected such a reversal.

Under countless stunned gazes, Julia finally gave up resisting for real.

From afar, Lina silently watched her.

Inside the cockpit, Julia connected a communication line to her opponent.

“How... did you see through me?”

Julia’s low voice came through the channel.

This was the one thing she still couldn’t understand.

She believed her final deception had fooled everyone.

Before dying, she wanted to know the answer.

After a brief silence, Lina finally replied.

“Your mech wasn’t trembling.”

“What?”

“Just like now. You’re afraid. You feel despair. Your mech is trembling slightly. It’s very subtle, but I can feel it.”

“But earlier, it wasn’t.”

Julia instantly understood.

She had disguised herself as someone whose mech had run out of energy.

But she had acted too perfectly.

She forgot that someone facing death should show fear.

As long as even the smallest amount of energy remained, the mech could still reflect the pilot’s physical state.

At that moment, she hadn’t been prey waiting for slaughter.

She had been a hunter waiting for prey to approach.

Which meant Lina’s raised blade had merely been bait—

A trap to lure out her final attack and make her lose her very last chance.

“I lost.”

“Do it.”

Julia closed her eyes.

Lina said nothing.

Her high-frequency blade aimed directly at the cockpit.

At the end of almost every mech fighter match, the scene was always the same—

The victor’s weapon piercing the opponent’s cockpit.

Blood flowing out.

The match officially ending.

“Kill her!”

The surrounding chants rose once more.

Inside the VIP room, Ding Yufei turned his gaze away with some reluctance.

Even though he knew this was the usual ending for these tournaments, he still could not bear such a cruel scene.

Lina’s blade sliced through the air.

Whoosh—

The blade pierced directly into the cockpit position of Julia’s mech.