Chapter 137 - 136 - Combat Androids(Part 3)

"Let's take a five minute break before the next round," I suggested, as I sat down on the floor with a sigh. 

"Only five?" Groaned Kiran, pulling down his face mask to wipe off the sweat on his face. 

Each of the three possible pairings for this group had gone twice, and there was still well over an hour left in the session since only one of the previous rounds had used up the full time limit of ten minutes, so we definitely could take a much longer break if we wanted to...but whenever I train, I like to make things more challenging for myself so that the overall process becomes more effective. 

And yeah, I know that I train harder than most and it's probably not a good idea to abruptly impose my training style on others, but...I had barely even broken a sweat, Bytra didn't look too tired either. Kiran was the only one who had visibly-depleted stamina, sweating profusely and breathing heavily. 

But it's not that he has low stamina or anything, that round where he went the full ten minutes was extremely high paced and taxing, he wasn't given an inch of breathing space or a chance to catch his breath until it was over...he looked a bit lightheaded after that round, come to think of it. 

"Hey, how tired are you?" I asked Bytra. 

"H-huh? Oh, u-um, I'm not tired," She stuttered in reply, averting her gaze. 

"Hm...we've got just under seventy minutes left, and we'll only be fighting a single round as a trio, so...fine, I suppose we can opt for a longer break, let's say...half an hour? You, work on triggering Manifestation Overdrive for the next twenty minutes, then rest for the remaining ten minutes, during which we'll talk strategy," I instructed Bytra, continuing to stare at her forehead instead of making direct eye contact...okay, I think I'm getting used to this, it's definitely easier that talking to her while meeting her gaze, I'd just get irritated if I did that. 

"O-okay, got it," She responded timidly. 

I'll up the difficulty level of training when we get closer to the exam, for now I think it'll be more effective for me to focus on getting a basic level of teamwork going with this group. Probably easier said than done though. 

And besides, we'll be done with this session with the next round, and with so much time left, there's absolutely no rush. Though even if it wasn't just one round left, effectively speaking, it would be, thanks to their only being one android left. 

Yeah, by the end of the previous round, the second android was so badly damaged that it suddenly ceased functioning. The last round won't have a time limit, it'll keep going till either all three of us or the android are teleported out.

And if the android sustains too much damage before teleporting out, then that's it, the session's over regardless. Sure, it's supposed to teleport out before it sustains a certain amount of damage, but it can't anticipate my Anomaly powers, otherwise the first one I fought would have reacted to me using Cut on its arm blade, so there's that. 

"Hey, what are you going to do while we wait?" Inquired Kiran, who was laying down flat on the ground. 

"Hm...I think I'll do some push-ups," I replied, after mulling it over. 

"I can't tell if that's a serious answer or sarcasm," He responded wryly. 

"Huh? Why would I be being sarcastic? I've been a bit busy lately so I've fallen a bit behind on my regular, physical training...it kinda felt like my arm strength was a bit diminished when fighting the combat androids, so yeah...push-ups," I shrugged in reply. 

I then got on the ground and planted my right palm on the floor...okay, I'll go for about five minutes with each arm and then finish with five minutes with both arms, that'll leave me about fifteen minutes to rest afterwards...yeah, that works... 

...

"Hey, you, two minutes left, wrap it up soon," I called out to Bytra, a couple of minutes after I finished my own workout. 

"O-okay!" She responded with a slight jump as I startled her, before exhaling slowly and focusing again. 

"I noticed this earlier too, but...you're avoiding saying her name, aren't you?" Inquired Kiran, who was now sitting up and looking a lot more well rested. 

Wait, I am? Huh...holy shit, I am. I didn't even realize it, but now that I think about it...just the idea of addressing her by name annoys me. 

"No idea what you're talking about," I replied as I averted my gaze. 

"Well, that was convincing," He remarked dryly, "And not that I really care, but...seems like that'd be detrimental to this teamwork thing."

Much as I hate to admit it, he has a point there...well, whatever, I can deal with it later, one step at a time. Me being civil to her is a huge step on it's own, let's not try too much too quickly. 

"Hey, um...I'm done," Said Bytra, walking back this way. 

"Alright, ten more minutes of rest and then we start the next round," I declared, as I took a sip of water. 

"I only heard the 'rest' part of what you said, didn't hear the rest...no pun intended," Sighed Kiran. 

He sure complains a lot, but he does what's required of him when he has to, even if he does grumble about it while doing it. 

"Right...anyway, how did your training go?" I asked Bytra. 

"Oh, um...it was okay, I didn't succeed, but I, um, I think I got close," She answered while fidgeting. 

"Okay, keep working on it in your free time then. In the meantime, let's talk about how we're going to approach the next round, shall we...?" I suggested. 

...

A few minutes later, all three of us were in the Duel Field, in a triangle formation surrounding the android...one thing that I noticed in the previous rounds was that in the first three rounds, the androids fought less competently than in the next three rounds. 

In other words, in the first batch of rounds, the combat program must have been restricted a bit, with those restrictions lifted in the second half...but not all the restrictions might have been lifted. In other words, it's very possible that round will be even tougher than the previous bouts...but it shouldn't be a problem, so long as we keep our guards up and each play our roles as discussed. 

The countdown was almost over, I activated my X-Blades and readied my X-Blasters to attack, as the countdown reached three...two...one!

The moment it ended, the android swiftly raised its arms, its fingertips opening up. It's top half then began spinning around rapidly, as it fired bullets out of its fingers while spinning at a blinding speed. Okay, that's new. 

I quickly put up my barrier just in time, as Kiran expanded his swatter to use as a shield and Bytra spun her whip around in front of herself to deflect the bullets coming her way. We're all managing to block it, but still, this is quite an effective attack. 

After about ten seconds, the hail of bullets finally ceased, and the moment the android stopped spinning, I fired a barrage of shots from my X-Blasters, but the android swiftly responded by expanding its forearms like shields and blocking my shots, before leaping up as Bytra cracked her whip towards it. 

What the-...she was behind it, how did it react to that!? 

It then reached to try and grab the whip, but the moment it tried, Bytra quickly pulled back her whip, as Kiran swung and expanded his swatter towards the android rapidly. Right before his attack could connect though, the android narrowly zipped out of the way using the jets in its palms and feet. 

I then used Cut and Paste to teleport myself above the android and combined my X-Blade handled to form the long and wide form of the energy blade and then swung it down at the android, which countered by shutting off its jets and letting itself plummet down, narrowly evading my slash. 

Bytra then swung her whip up at the android, wrapping around its left ankle before it could react. It then began to point its fingers at her, but before it could fire, Kiran expanded his swatter to the max and swung it down at the android, knocking it down and pinning it onto the ground firmly...nice. 

I then used Cut and Paste again to teleport myself back down towards the ground, and as the android began to push at Kiran's swatter and stand back up, I swiftly pulled out my Square Blaster and fired the moment I got a good look at the android. 

The instant I fired, it activated the jets in its palms to blast Kiran's swatter away and then rapidly zipped out of the way of my thousands of streaks of dark XFE, a few striking and several grazing the android, but it avoided taking too many hits. 

Tch, I should have fired it at full output-...no, I specifically didn't do that because it'd have been difficult to do so without getting the others caught up in the blast, this is a relatively small Duel Field, so there isn't as much space to work with as I'd like.

Okay, so no doubt about it...this thing's combat skills are a lot sharper than what we faced in the previous rounds. Is this the full combat ability of these androids? Or is it still going easy on us? Either way...this is gonna be tough... 

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