BATTLE FOR STARS

At that moment, Lina was in agony.

In all her years of combat training, she had never encountered a situation like this before.

Why?

Because in previous fights, engine bursts were always available. No matter how fast an opponent closed in, she could instantly break free with explosive acceleration.

But now, the two mechs were tangled together like tightly wrapped bundles.

With a loud bang, the two mechs finally crashed onto the ground.

The violent impact made Lina’s body tremble uncontrollably.

She had never experienced this kind of combat situation before. Her greatest strengths—speed and agility—were completely useless now.

Meanwhile, Ding Yufei moved without the slightest hesitation. It was obvious he had already planned every step ahead of time.

Because he knew very well—

against a mech fighting queen like Lina, even the tiniest window to react could completely reverse the situation.

The only thing he could rely on was that single moment of hesitation.

The instant they hit the ground, Ding Yufei forcefully pulled both of Lina’s arms toward his chest while twisting his body and flipping both legs around.

It was an extremely strange movement.

No one watching understood what he was trying to do.

Of course, if anyone from Earth’s Chinese military had been present, they would have recognized it immediately.

This was a grappling restraint technique used for controlling a grounded opponent—

a locking technique from close-quarters capture combat.

The entire purpose of the move was to immobilize the opponent.

Of course, grappling arts contained countless methods of restraint. So why had Ding Yufei specifically chosen this one?

First, while there were many control techniques, very few were suitable for pinning an opponent on the ground.

Some techniques could restrain an opponent temporarily, but there was always the risk that Lina might still have a countermeasure or an escape option.

The greatest advantage of ground control was that it left Lina with almost no room for choice.

Her greatest strengths—mobility and jumping—became extremely difficult to use while lying on the ground.

Especially without engine bursts, simply getting back to her feet or creating distance became incredibly hard.

And Ding Yufei had guessed something else as well.

After so many years of training and combat, Lina had probably never fought while pinned on the ground before.

That unfamiliarity would inevitably create panic.

And during that moment of confusion, he could seize full control.

His gamble had paid off.

Lina had never fought under conditions where she simultaneously lost engine acceleration and became entangled with an opponent on the ground.

As a result, she had almost no effective response to Ding Yufei’s technique.

In barely one or two seconds, Ding Yufei completely controlled her body.

As they hit the ground, he wrenched hard with both hands, causing the dagger Lina still held to fly off to the side.

In the end, the two mechs collapsed into the center of the arena in a tangled cross-shaped position.

To every spectator present, the posture looked bizarre beyond belief.

The two bodies formed a strange T-shape.

Ding Yufei gripped one of Lina’s wrists tightly with both hands, while his legs pressed across her head and chest. The inside of his left leg locked tightly against her elbow joint.

Lina was suffering badly now.

Even though the restraint was being applied through mech components, the pressure still transmitted clear pain through her arm.

Inside the VIP room, everyone except Belina looked utterly dumbfounded.

No one had ever seen anything like this before.

If the previous storm-like offensive had already been considered a once-in-a-lifetime spectacle—

then two mechs lying on the ground, completely unable to move, was something even more unheard of.

Emperor Hogan looked at General Frederick, then at Balk.

Both men wore equally shocked expressions.

Clearly, this situation was beyond everyone’s experience.

Belina, however, looked remarkably relaxed.

She glanced at the battlefield, then at the Emperor’s expression, but said nothing.

The once roaring arena had also fallen silent.

Many of the cheers supporting Lina had disappeared.

Anyone could see that her situation was terrible.

Pinned underneath like this, she had almost no ability to resist.

But at the same time, nobody could confidently say Ding Yufei had already won.

Because from the beginning until now, he had made no further moves.

He simply maintained the hold.

Even though the high-frequency dagger lay not far away, he made no attempt to retrieve it.

The robot referee had already floated above the arena.

But apparently, even it had never encountered such a situation before. After circling awkwardly a few times, it eventually drifted back to the side.

Ding Yufei continued pulling tightly on Lina’s arm, refusing to give her even the slightest chance to escape.

After the previous nonstop exchange, most people had overlooked one important fact—

Lina had already consumed an enormous amount of energy.

While she hadn’t used high-consumption engine bursts, maintaining such rapid continuous attacks still drained tremendous power.

Even though the movements themselves hadn’t been especially large, Lina, as the aggressor, had clearly expended far more energy overall than Ding Yufei.

Ding Yufei, however, had been monitoring the energy levels the entire time.

His own energy reserves had already dropped below one-fifth.

He estimated Lina’s remaining energy was even lower.

That was why he had suddenly launched his attack and forced the match into its current state.

Of course, there was still no winner or loser yet.

Now it had become a pure battle of attrition. Whoever ran out of energy first would lose.

But nobody knew whose energy would deplete first.

Lina had consumed more energy earlier, but under this restraint state, Ding Yufei was likely consuming more now.

Naturally, he still had another option—

retrieve the nearby dagger and attack.

Under the current circumstances, as the controlling side, his chances of obtaining the weapon were far greater than Lina’s.

But from the very beginning, Ding Yufei had never intended to do that.

Because what he wanted—

was a draw.

Why a draw?

Because neither victory nor defeat was something he was willing to accept.

He didn’t want Belina to lose ownership of the Starship.

And he also didn’t want his newly made friend Lina to lose her life.

That was why he had stepped into this match in the first place.

The three Chinese characters he had written to Belina earlier were precisely:

“Qin Na Shu.”

Grappling restraint techniques.

After spending so much time with him, Belina had immediately understood his intentions.

And right then, inside the VIP room, Belina finally spoke toward Emperor Hogan.

“Emperor Hogan, in a situation like this… who exactly should be considered the winner?”

The Emperor remained silent.

This truly was difficult to judge.

According to the rules, victory required one side to defeat the other.

But now both sides were locked in a deadlock.

How could anyone determine a winner?

Of course, Emperor Hogan understood one thing clearly—

at the moment, Ding Yufei held the advantage.

“In my opinion, neither side has won yet,” General Frederick answered on the Emperor’s behalf.

“But our side currently has the advantage.”

“That’s hard to say,” Balk interrupted immediately. “Maybe he’ll be the one who loses in the end.”

“What do you mean by that, Balk?”

“After all, nobody knows whose energy will run out first.”

“But there’s still a dagger lying nearby on our side. If he gets it, the match could be decided instantly.”

“That dagger won’t be so easy to pick up,” Balk argued stubbornly. “The moment he releases one hand, can he really guarantee complete control over the opponent? Our fighter could break free instantly. At that point, who wins and who loses becomes impossible to predict.”