Chapter 3508: Shifting Approach Lyain Kepper and his Heart of Victor did not encounter a true challenge until they had entered the third round. The Rayvin and the Parnast were both formidable machines, and they certainly deserved to go further in the tournament, but it was undeniable that they possessed clear vulnerabilities. As long as he exhibited enough patience and cunning, the Heart of Victor could eventually exploit their weaknesses and defeat them in a relatively clear and unambiguous manner. The Zenomon Gamma was different. Though the mech did possess a number of weaknesses, none of them were easy to take advantage of. The axeman mech was too well-protected and also possessed the power to cripple the Heart of Victor in a single blow! Combined with surprisingly adequate speed for such a hefty frame, the Zenomon Gamma presented a package that was stronger than the Heart of Victor in almost every parameter! [The physical might of the Zenomon Gamma is incredible! The systems that allow it to exert so much power with every movement is not only useful for adding a lot of extra bite in its attacks, but it also enhances its mobility by channeling extra power in its legs and other mechanical parts. All of this means that this mech is an embodiment of power and cannot be stopped, only avoided!] Everyone in the audience could clearly see that the Zenomon Gamma had the upper hand in this fast-paced brawl. The Zenomon Gamma was constantly pressing forward while the Heart of Victor regularly dashed back or jumped to the sides. Axes excelled at tearing through shields and armor! The bigger the axe, the bigger the threat of a single crushing chop. When it was paired with a melee mech that could add a lot of extra force to the blows, an axe turned from a severe threat into a doomsday weapon that could sunder a planet! What also impressed the spectators was how the Zenomon Gamma became increasingly more adept in wielding its axe. As its mech pilot became more accustomed to the axeman mech's traits, he began to display more proficiency and skill in his movements. The Zenomon Gamma's moves became more efficient! It spent less time to execute an attack or recover from a big movement! This was a big problem for the Heart of Victor. The Zenomon Gamma's gradual improvements reduced the windows of opportunity for the swordsman mech to slip in its own attacks. The specter of defeat loomed closer than ever to Lyain Kepper. The Zenomon Gamma became an enormous shadow that risked engulfing him and his mech! "I won't bow down!" During all this time, Lyain Kepper became more and more ready to unleash the full capabilities of his mech. Yet when he thought that he needed to fight two more matches, he tried his best to contain his urges. He considered it a loss if he had to draw upon the greater capabilities of his mech when he was still fighting in the third round. As he continued to struggle against the Zenomon Gamma's unceasing attacks, Lyain became determined to win the battle on his terms! "I can still do it! I'm not alone!" He wasn't the only one who was fighting against the Zenomon Gamma. His active mech also became indignant at the prospect of losing against this axeman mech! Their shared struggle slowly bonded them together. Their thoughts became more aligned as they both desired to achieve victory and earn permanent glory by winning the Wild Brawl Bowl! Lyain's eyes grew a lot more intense as he reached a new level of cooperation with his mech! Though his relationship with the Heart of Victor had always been good, his drive for victory had not yet reached a sufficient level. The previous two matches had pushed him quite a lot but never beyond his limit. This was different! His adversary was truly strong and his current level of piloting skill and control over his own mech weren't quite sufficient to defeat the Zenomon Gamma at the moment! If he wanted to win this battle while still preserving enough advantages for the subsequent round, then the only variable that he could truly rely on to increase his performance was his own skill! "I need to become a better swordsman!" He rapidly recalled all of the guidance that Ketis had passed on to him. Some of what she said didn't sink in to him until now. After evaluating his own movements so far, he realized that he wasn't piloting the Heart of Victor to the fullest. Lyain Kepper's fighting style ordinarily involved a lot of maneuvering like he was doing now. The problem was that he was accustomed to piloting lighter and more agile swordsman mechs. These mechs may be lacking in power and defense, but their good maneuverability had always allowed him to pick his battles and retreat whenever a situation became too difficult. The Heart of Victor didn't allow him to fight like he used to! Though he had already adjusted to the current circumstances by planning out his actions and predicting the enemy's movements, he wasn't going far enough for his liking! "I haven't fully embraced the fighting style that is needed to make the most out of my current mech!" The dots finally started to connect in his mind. The Heart of Victor was suited for a different fighting style that did not place such a high emphasis on maneuverability. Though Lyain had always fought this way in his career as a mech pilot, he already felt he had reached the limit of how far he could push his current approach. There were two ways for him to break this limit. He could either force a breakthrough or change to a more suitable sword style! Lyain had always focused on the former solution, but the chance of breaking through to expert candidate was too miniscule. It was never wise to put all of his hopes on such an unlikely event. The more effective way to comprehensively increase his battle effectiveness was to change the very nature of his fighting style! This was difficult. Even if Ketis pointed out all of the ways he could change in order to do better, he had spent at least thousands of hours honing his own sword style. It had become a part of his fighting system and represented his core accumulation as a swordsman mech pilot! After a moment of hesitation, Lyain finally made a drastic decision. He no longer stuck to his old routines and decisively broke the rules that he had set for himself long ago. Though it was difficult for him to initiate such a drastic shift in the middle of an intensive battle, the pressure prompted him to maximize his efforts and commit entirely to a different fighting approach! The shift immediately became obvious. The Heart of Victor no longer strained its frame to evade and dodge the incoming axe attacks. Though the swordsman mech still took effort to protect its weak points and minimize the incoming damage, Lyain decided to take calculated risks in order to launch an all-out assault! The chainsword in the hands of the Heart of Victor turned from a bee sting into a precision missile. The swordsman mech took more risks and became more willing to incur a certain degree of injuries in order to inflict damage that mattered! Lyain did not target the chest of the Zenomon Gamma anymore. The axeman mech's torso was too thick and sturdy to penetrate through easily. Though it was possible to wear it down over time, the powerful enemy machine would be able to retain all of its battle effectiveness throughout this difficult period! "Your arms are much more vulnerable!" Although it was more difficult to attack the arms of the Zenomon Gamma, they were considerably less protected. Though the mech pilot of the Zenomon Gamma immediately noticed that the Heart of Victor had changed its strategy, he struggled to protected the limbs of his mech. The axeman mech performed at its best when it was on the attack! It had to keep launching attacks in order to avoid getting pestered to death by the Heart of Victor! "I'll crush your mech first!" The match became increasingly more brutal as the axe began to tear through the chest armor of the Heart of Victor with greater effectiveness! Yet even as the swordsman mech incurred all of this damage, Lyain had always managed to prevent the axe from digging any deeper. He was deliberately using the thickest section of his mech as bait in order to succeed in his own attacks! The Heart of Victor's blade persistently chipped away at the upper arms of the Zenomon Gamma. Though it was difficult for Lyain to concentrate his attacks on the same damaged arm sections, he took advantage of the fact that the axeman mech he was fighting against was not that flexible in its movements! The Zenomon Gamma's emphasis on strength and physical might meant that it had to make a lot of tradeoffs in other areas such as range of motion. What this meant was that the powerful mech moved rather stiffly and could not easily fend off attacks from difficult angles! In response to this targeted aggression, the Zenomon Gamma became increasingly more aggressive. It became more determined than ever to chop the Heart of Victor in half before its limbs succumbed! This heated exchange of blows could not last for a long amount of time. The buffers of both mechs began to run out as the damaged armor layers offered less and less protection to the crucial internal components! It was at this time that Lyain finally judged that he inflicted enough damage to pull off his next move! The Heart of Victor threw its chainsword at its opponent at an unexpected angle! Everyone became bewildered that the swordsman mech chose to throw its main weapon at such a close range. [The sword is going wide!] The chainsword did not even come close to hitting the damaged sections of the Zenomon Gamma. Instead, it sailed over the mech's shoulder and continued to fling further away until the chain grew taut. At this point, the mech pilot of the Zenomon Gamma thought that this was part of a trap. He studied the Heart of Victor's previous battles and knew that Lyain Kepper always managed to use a single moment of weakness to deal a decisive blow against his opponent. "That's not going to happen!" The Zenomon Gamma attempted to preempt whatever the Heart of Victor was attempting to do next by releasing one of its hands from the grip of its axe and grabbing hold of the chain that was draped over its shoulder! As long as the axeman mech was able to keep hold of the chain, the Heart of Victor could forget about retracting its weapon! Even if the swordsman mech tried to circle around and bind the Zenomon Gamma with the chain, the enemy mech pilot wasn't worried. The axeman mech was so strong that it could definitely break the chain by relying on brute force! It would be a severe mistake if the Heart of Victor tried to beat its opponent by imitating the Parnast! Yet the swordsman mech's next actions caught the Zenomon Gamma's mech pilot off-guard. It broke its chain from the connecting point on its arm. This separated the Heart of Victor from its own sword, but that was okay because it already pulled out a second weapon from its back! Even though its backup knife was far smaller and less imposing than its chainsword, it was still a proper weapon that Ketis had invested a significant amount of attention in its development. The Heart of Victor dashed forward just as the Zenomon Gamma tried to respond to the developing situation by chopping its axe straight in front of its chest with its only remaining limb! Lyain smirked as his swordsman mech barely managed to evade the worst of this blow. This time, the huge and heavy axe was held by only a single arm, so the speed and power of this chop was not as great as before! This allowed the Heart of Victor to slip close without incurring as much risk this time! The swordsman mech used its free hand to grab and press onto the axeman mech's limb that previously held the chain. The momentum of the Heart of Victor briefly allowed it to overpower the arm, thereby negating its threat. This gave the Heart of Victor a precious moment where it could stab its dagger straight into the arm that the swordsman mech had already damaged in prior attacks! The knife slammed through the damaged armor plating and quickly managed to sink halfway inside! Though the weapon did not cut as deep as Lyain Kepper had hoped, the damage was still crucial enough to cripple the limb! The arm abruptly lost a lot of power and control, so much so that the Zenomon Gamma's arm could no longer hold onto its greataxe! The weapon was already a challenge to hold with a single limb. The critical damage that the Heart of Victor managed to inflict instantly caused it to exceed its limit! The audience gasped as the Zenomon Gamma lost its primary weapon as well as most of the functionality of its arm. Though the disarmed mech was already leaning forward in order to slam the Heart of Victor away, that did not change the fact that the axeman mech lost its most effective means to deal damage! The Heart of Victor turned frenzied as it wielded its knife in a skillful manner. It easily evaded the clumsy kicks and grappling attempts and soon managed to scrap the Zenomon Gamma's other arm! At this point, the match had already been decided. It took two more minutes for the axeman mech to succumb, but everyone already knew that Team Larkinson had managed to advance to the fourth round!