BATTLE FOR STARS

This was the real difference between an amateur and a professional.

Lina was a true professional mech fighter. Every day of her life revolved around brutal training. She had fought countless battles and accumulated an enormous amount of combat experience. So not long after the match began, she had already made the correct judgment.

Defeating Ding Yufei through one or two surprise attacks at the start was almost impossible.

But when it came to endurance, Ding Yufei was definitely far inferior to her.

That immediately became the core of Lina’s strategy: maintain relentless offensive pressure and exhaust him as quickly as possible.

Because of that, she no longer cared whether every strike carried lethal threat.

Blocked?

Deflected?

Dodged?

None of it mattered.

She just kept attacking.

As long as Ding Yufei made a single mistake, it could be fatal.

No one had expected a close-combat tournament match to turn into a contest of endurance.

The people of the Resk Empire, including Emperor Hogan, were already shocked that Ding Yufei could withstand Lina’s attacks at all. But after watching for a while, none of them believed he could actually win.

After all, mech fighting wasn’t just about speed and technique. Combat experience was equally important.

And in that regard, Lina’s probability of victory was far higher than Ding Yufei’s.

The only person present who firmly believed Ding Yufei would win was Belina.

She understood the importance of combat experience too, but she also understood Ding Yufei better than anyone else.

It was true that he lacked real mech combat experience. But because the mech’s feedback system was incredibly realistic, the difference between mech fighting and ordinary hand-to-hand combat wasn’t actually that large.

Back when he was still in school, one of Ding Yufei’s biggest hobbies had been martial arts combat. During his months of adventure on Earth, he had once received guidance from a Tai Chi master. Since then, his understanding of fighting had deepened tremendously.

After constant practice, he had even successfully applied those techniques in several life-threatening situations.

So Belina didn’t think his disadvantage in experience was as severe as everyone assumed.

More importantly, she knew Ding Yufei’s current physical condition was no weaker than Lina’s in any aspect.

Which meant Lina’s endurance-based strategy wouldn’t have much effect.

Ding Yufei himself had sensed the same thing.

Ever since his sudden “awakening,” it felt as if all his senses had risen to another level. His reactions to the outside world had become far sharper.

He had no idea why.

But at the very least, handling Lina’s attacks felt noticeably easier.

If their previous practice match were used as reference, then under this many consecutive heavy assaults from Lina, he should already have started making small mistakes.

But until now, none had appeared.

In fact, Ding Yufei even felt he still had some energy to spare. It wasn’t nearly as difficult as he had imagined.

Still, as Lina’s nonstop offensive continued, he finally began to feel real pressure.

This was an all-out assault.

No pauses.

No rest.

Lina attacked relentlessly while Ding Yufei focused entirely on defense.

At first, he had still been able to counterattack from time to time. But as the battle dragged on, those opportunities became fewer and fewer.

Now, he was almost completely pinned into pure defense.

And from the state of the battlefield alone, everyone could see just how terrifying Lina’s training must have been.

Leaving aside everything else, just maintaining this level of sustained high-intensity offense required endurance most fighters simply did not possess.

Watching the battle unfold, Emperor Hogan finally relaxed slightly.

At least the situation was gradually tilting in his favor.

No one had even noticed how long Lina’s current offensive sequence had lasted.

Because the match was simply too exciting.

Every exchange was packed with counters, reactions, feints, and instant adaptations. Even though this attack phase had already far exceeded the duration of attacks in previous matches, nobody found it strange.

At times, the fight had practically turned into a test of pure human reaction speed.

And just as everyone was wondering who would crack first—

the situation on the field suddenly changed.

Lina’s dagger stabbed toward Ding Yufei’s shoulder once again.

Ding Yufei’s dagger intercepted it instantly.

According to the pattern from earlier exchanges, Ding Yufei should have used the block to retreat slightly while redirecting the force of Lina’s attack.

But this time—

something changed.

His dagger merely knocked Lina’s blade aside.

His body did not retreat.

If anything, at the instant before the daggers collided, Ding Yufei kicked off the ground and surged directly toward Lina at high speed.

The two had already been fighting at extremely close range to begin with. With just one step, the distance between them shrank to less than half an arm’s length.

Normally, in this kind of position, neither fighter could effectively use a dagger anymore. The distance was too tight. There wasn’t enough room to swing their arms.

In situations like this, fists became the best weapon.

But even if you managed to land one or two punches, the damage dealt to a mech was minimal. Meanwhile, the opponent could strike back just as easily.

Because of that, this inefficient style of combat was something professional fighters almost never used.

Yet in the most important match of all—

Ding Yufei chose exactly that option.

For a split second, Lina was stunned by his decision.

Her reaction slowed ever so slightly.

And without engine-assisted acceleration, it became extremely difficult for her to pull away and reopen the distance.

But while charging toward her, Ding Yufei did something even more shocking.

After knocking aside Lina’s dagger, he immediately threw away his own dagger without the slightest hesitation.

No one had expected that.

Without a dagger, a mech fighter lost their strongest offensive weapon. Punches and kicks could still damage a mech to some extent, but compared to the direct destructive power of a dagger, the difference was enormous.

That was precisely why mech fighting tournaments always required weapons.

If matches were decided purely by fists, not only would battles drag on endlessly, almost everyone would simply choose heavily armored mechs. The sport itself would become unbearably monotonous.

Of course, nobody thought Ding Yufei was giving up.

He had been resisting Lina’s attacks the entire time. If he wanted to surrender, he would have done it long ago.

And from his movements, it was obvious he had deliberately chosen close-quarters engagement.

So what was the greatest advantage of discarding the dagger?

It freed one hand.

As long as he held the dagger, that hand couldn’t perform any other action.

In this match, Ding Yufei held his blade in his left hand, while Lina used her right. Their weapon arms lined up perfectly against each other.

In the next instant, the hand Ding Yufei had released from the dagger shot forward and grabbed Lina’s weapon arm.

His other hand seized her shoulder.

He practically lunged straight into her face.

That momentary hesitation from Lina was enough.

Not only had Ding Yufei successfully closed the distance, he had also locked down her entire body, preventing her from moving.

The next second, the two mechs crashed to the ground together, almost face-to-face.

No one had expected such a development.

Because in this situation, neither side could launch any truly effective attack anymore.