Chapter 118: Hope

Date 24 Mar 2321

Time 9:01

Location Sky Blossom City, Whiteburn Manor, East Wing, Family Arena

"Nonsense! Trap card Nine White Dwarf Suns!"

Paul's use of the trap card Nine White Dwarf Suns after the use of field card White Dwarf sun terra was a strategic move as the presence of nine miniature white flame orbs of 6-meter radius in the white dwarf sun terra increased the field cards surface temperature by 4 times that is currently the surface temperature of the arena rose from 2700kelvins to 10,800kelvins reaching above the melt temperature of black steel alloy… 

Thanks to alloy manipulation Pax had upgraded his black steel alloy to the black steel f16 alloy whose melting point happened to be near 11,000kelvins otherwise no matter how strong his origin card Iron Flesh mech's armour was it would meltdown and overheat leading to all system failure. Maybe even Pax would be cooked inside the mech. 

Thankfully the arena had an A-rank shield to protect spectators from any mishap but it also barely withstood a temperature of 10,550 Celsius as 2700 kelvins was considered the peak of C-rank and 10,800 Kelvin's of heat had already stepped into A-rank. Right now inside the arena barrier, it was hotter than the surface temperature of a regular yellow sun… Paul hardy broke a sweat thanks to his cards immunity meanwhile Pax was not faring well his skin was clammy and he had become sluggish while his mind could barely keep up as his body was failing due to the high temperature if not for his nanotechnology implants he would have already evaporated. 

[Detecting sharp temperature elevation in the surrounding…

Activating mechanical Thermal Organ…

Body temperature adapting to the surrounding…

Tier1 Thermal Organ at full capacity...

Correction Tier1 Thermal Organ insufficient…

Following protocol, please switch to higher-tier or absorb thermal energy using Black steel f16 alloy….

Tier1 Black steel f16 alloy armour thermal absorption at full capacity…

Correction Tier1 Black steel f16 alloy armour thermal absorption insufficient … 

Following protocol, please switch to higher-tier… ]

"Target 77 meters north! Detonate!" 

Due to his sluggish mind, he could not understand the promote that sounded in his head and was unable to switch to higher-tier but as nine miniature white flame orbs of 6-meter radius appeared began to approach him at high-speed Pax jumped backwards reflexively but he still could make any sound decisions... he even forgot to use the barrier and defence cards his sisters had prepared for him meanwhile several prompts sounded in his head again, 

[Threat detected...

Hostile energy inbound…

Initiating safety protocol… 

Tier 2 activating…

Tier 3 activating…

Interfacing cerebral and soul link… 

Interface established...

Iron Flesh online…] 

Thanks to the Iron flesh safety protocol programming the origin card to protect its host itself switched to tier3. Finally, Pax was clear-headed and was surprised to see his origin card could detect the threat and even act on its own for his safety. He was very thankful for this function. If not for this function he would have died without him realizing as his mind was sluggish and shutting down under the enormous heat. 

But unfortunately, Pax had regained control too late the nine white flame orbs were next to him and detonated without hesitation. Pax knew no matter what he did he could not escape the blast radius so Pax thought to cover the mech's vital parts with its arms and legs by curling up… Thanks to that wise decision Pax was able to service the blast. 

The moment nine white flame orbs detonated for the next 3 secs the temperature in the area where the none orbs exploded doubled to 21,600kelvins which was more than enough to melt the black steel f16 alloy body of Iron Flesh, though the thermal absorption property of this f16 alloy is top-notch it has its limit and its melting pot is its limit. 

When the 9 orbs exploded the front of Iron Flesh bore the total burnt thanks to Pax's timely and sound decision he was able to protect the chest and head region of the mech by covering them with the mech's hands and feet. In the explosion, the armour covering the mech's hands and feet had melted and soon hardened due to its thermal absorption ability leading to the jamming of the mech's arm and leg joints rendering its hands and feet utterly useless. 

Once again several prompt sounded in Pax's head, 

[Multiple injuries detected! 

Iron Flesh unable to gain support from feet… 

Iron Flesh arms and legs not responding…

Iron Flesh weapon upper wrist-mounted Twin cannons not responding…

Iron Flesh weapon lower wrist-mounted Twin energy blade not responding…

Iron Flesh system overheating…

Thermal System at full capacity…

F16 alloy Thermal absorption at full capacity…

Iron Flesh System overheating...

Awaiting further command…] 

Hearing the prompt Pax sigh in relief thankfully only the arms and feet were melted… if it were the head or the chest the consequence would have been dire, if the head were melted most of the mech's sensory system would have failed leaving Pax piloting a blind mech or if the chest had melted at best Iron flesh would lose more than half of the Weapon system and the complete aerial system would fail to respond but at worst it would melt the mech core and cabin melting Pax within it. 

"Iron flesh is the aerial system still responding and ready to take off!" Pax asked the Iron flesh A.I 

[ Iron flesh aerial system responding, ready to take off any minute…] 

"Okay, activate the aerial system and take off in 3 2 1.." 

[ Activating Aerial system…

Aerial system responding…

Caution: imbalance due to unresponsive mech arms and legs!

Caution: mech overheating!

all systems ready to go...

Iron Flesh taking off… 

Take off successful…] 

"Good, maintain a height of 900 meters and orbit the arena." Ordered Pax as he looked at dumbfounded Paul inside the arena at the ground. Not just Paul the entire crowd of spectators were dumbfounded and utterly shocked causing the arena stand to fall in graveyard silence. Except the media representative's and social media influencer were jaunty and making use of their whole life experience in full swing to make the best use of this scoop. 

Just when Pax had thought that he had survived the worst and rejoicing his escape and enjoying the dumbfounded expressions of Pual and the crowd while planning his next move, a system caution prompt sounded in his head…

[Caution: Iron Flesh is experiencing an imbalance due to the unresponsive arms and legs… current flight condition can only be maintained for 3 minutes maximum..] 

Hearing the system prompt Pax started to sweat bullets knowing that if he does not end the match within the next 3 minutes he will plummet to his death.