Reborn in a Dating Sim: Life as a Mob is hard in an Equestria Girl’s Dating Game!

Reborn in a Dating Sim:

Life as a Mob is hard in an Equestria Girl’s Dating Game!

Chapter Sixteen

There are a few sights that can cause a person to take a moment to question everything. For Copper that sight was Artemis. It wasn’t that he hadn’t piloted an Armor before. Like some of the others he’d had the training with the Academy’s practice suits. All of which were off limits for a duel. While they were considered agile they also heavily relied on using the monster cores gained from labyrinths to function. Depending on the suit of armor it could be a single core, or it could require up to four of them.

That made operating the mech-like machines incredibly expensive. Even then most armors used cores out of the more dangerous monsters. Something like the scorpions that he’d killed would be what was normally used. The cores from the ants, wasps, and sky carp were things that could be used if necessary, but it would reduce the power of the armor. Additionally, it would ultimately run out of power faster.

Monster cores were special in that they could recharge over time, but if something, like an armor, completely drained them then the core was inert. There would be no further use for it other than as a large jewel sphere. While that was still something that could be sold it was worth considerably less. Still he saw Artemis standing in what looked like a skin tight suit. It was white, with black seams that ran throughout. In truth it reminded him quite a bit of Neon Genesis Evagelion. It almost seemed to match the same suit that Rei had worn. That was impossible though.

“Captain,” she said as she looked at him, “I’ve deployed your armor,” she said as she smiled, “Additionally, I’ve ensured that it will always be able to function at a higher degree than other armors that we see here. As such, I have incorporated something into that you may be surprised by.”

He looked at her, “Artemis, what are you talking about?” he asked as he looked at the collection of armors across the stadium from him, “I mean, it should function like the Academy’s armors, right?”

There was a short laugh, “No, it will not be a clunky, weak, and slow piece of magical equipment. What information I gained from those armors told me how inefficient they are compared to what I have to offer you. They honestly are nothing more than oversized toys that are paraded around as machines of war. However, the armor that you will be piloting will be far better. I have adjusted the controls to be similar to what you’ve trained on, but its reaction speed will be far better.”

He heard footsteps near him, “Baron Copper,” Diamond Tiara said as she stood behind him, “You do realize that you need to have an armor for an armor battle, right? You don’t intend to fight as a lone individual against those machines of death do you?”

He smiled at her, “Oh, my armor’s on the way,” he said as he looked up, and from above they watched as something dark fell, “In fact, here it comes now.”

What hit the ground wasn’t an armor, but rather it was a large sphere. The outer shell of it was black, but lines began to grow across the shell. Those lines were brilliant white, and each of them seemed to grow like a spider’s web. After a few moments the shell itself broke. When it did what remained was a black armor that looked more bulky than the others. He noticed that it wasn’t quite like it had looked in the game. He had expected to see something that resembled a mesh between a transformer and a gundam.

What he saw instead had a similar body, but the head was shaped more along the lines of a Zaku. The chest armor bent down, the chest opened, and he climbed up into it. He watched as Artemis smiled at him, and he wondered exactly what it was that she had done differently. His answer came to him when the chest closed. There in front of him was another Artemis. This one was still wearing a bodysuit similar to her counterpart, but it was red with black lines. His own suit was dark gray with black highlights making him seem almost like a villain more than a mob.

“Artemis?” he asked as her posterior pressed against his groin, “I’ve designed your armor to be able to react better by having myself inside of it. I will act as the processor for it. In essence, you will control the armor by controlling me. I must admit that it is strange feeling everything that I’m feeling. I feel excited, and motivated, and of course most of all I feel desire. Oh, Captain, please, please, please use me. Use me in your battle, use me in every single way.”

He groaned as he felt her against him. Like herself his bodysuit was similar to that of the ones from Evangelion, but where he assumed that those suits allowed the sensation of touch this seemed to protect from external pressure. He felt nothing. There was no pressing of her firm posterior that he felt against himself. It was frustrating and at the same time fantastic for the situation.

“The armor needs a name,” he said as he looked ahead and saw a screen appear before him, “I think we should give it a good one.”

“I have, my Captain,” she said as she smiled, “I have named this armor Avarice. It is fitting. Additionally, it does not run off of monster cores, like those clunky, and useless, armors they are piloting. It runs off of a form of microfusion that is contained within a single cylinder. This cylinder is inserted into the back under the protective shield that also serves as the storage unit for your armor.”

His hands moved past her shapely rump, and to the two handles before him. That was when he realized that he had to lean forward, almost as if he was going to be taking her in order to pilot. He cleared his mind. Artemis had designed something that was amazing, but he would need to explain how this was uncomfortable in the sense that he felt far too frustrated. Frustrated was perhaps the nicest way of saying it.

Still, the entire view of everything laid out before him. He could see the armors that lined up on the other side. There was Prince Apollos. His armor was white with gold trim. It matched his mother’s colors perfectly. Beside him was Mithril Shield’s armor. It was a forest green with blue trim. From what he could see it was in pristine condition. Likely he didn’t actually use it for battle. Spear Point’s armor had several places where it looked as if it had been repaired multiple times.

The fact that it was blue and red didn’t really help the fact that it was more or less just the mass produced armor that everyone else had. In truth it was little better than the school;s training armor. Then there was Posh Propers armor. The running theme wasn’t lost on Copper. Posh Propers matched his skin tone and hair as well. Lavender with violet trim. That left Platinum Reserve’s armor that was silver with white highlights.

For the most part they looked decent, but Copper had remembered the amount of trouble each of them had given him in the game. Platinum Reserve was more into being a marksman than he was an up close fighter. If it was a long distance he was dangerous. Up close he folded almost instantly. Posh Propers was decent at spell casting, but he sucked at melee and traditional long distance fighting. Spear Point was great at melee combat. In fact he was usually the go to in the game. His fighting stats were decent. His armor always sucked though. That left both Mithril Shield and the Prince. Mithril Shield was a glass cannon. He had tons of potential, but one good hit was enough to knock him out. The Prince had great equipment, but he didn’t have the discipline or attention span to really utilize it.

These were the problems in the game he’d faced, and it was what he was prepared for. Besides, the bet he placed on himself was more than enough to ensure that he’d get massive returns. Everyone was going to be pissed at him, but that didn’t matter. He knew what he was going to do, and he was going to stick to it.

“Captain,” Artemis said in his headset, “I believe that they’re ready for us.”

He felt her wiggle her hips, “And I am ready for you, my captain.”

He breathed out, “Fight now, and we’ll figure things out later.”

He moved the armor toward the center, “You are a complete disgrace,” Platinum Reserve said, “You’re bringing what has to be a lost item into the arena, and for what? To lose? Those things are rare because we can’t replicate them, but that doesn’t mean that they’re actually very useful. In truth, all lost items are pretty much worthless junk leftover from an age when man was simple and stupid.”

He felt Artemis go rigid for a moment, “My Captain, please say that we can terminate him. Please?” she asked as she pressed against him, “I promise, that I will make it worth your while. Just say that we can claim his life, and it will be worth it. I swear, please?”

He breathed out, “No, we’re not killing anyone, but I’m not above teaching him a very valuable lesson. The kind that completely humiliates him, and of course ensures that he’s brought down more than a peg.”

He felt the way she moved, “That’s acceptable,” she said, “Guide both me and Avarice. We will ensure your victory is at hand.”

With that he watched as a strange looking tall armor moved out. The armor itself looked to be designed almost purely white. From what he could see its head was designed like a bishop’s head from his previous life. Golden light shone from its every pore. It looked almost angelic, but he knew that it was nothing more than the observer who had the job to ensure that the duel remained true to its intended situation.

“The Duelists may give their opening statements,” The observer said, “Platinum Reserve, please begin.”

“What’s to say?” Platinum Reserve asked, “I’m embarrassed for him. He has come to battle in such a horrifying antique. I plan on putting him out of his misery early.”

“Copper Plum?”

“Bring it.”

With that Platinum Reserve attempted to move back, but instead he was surprised by Avarice’s speed. The armor was upon him in moments, and before he could say a word his own armor was grabbed by its hands. He had his armor designed by the best in the business. They had spent countless hours pouring over the magical elements of his armor. It had been designed to take multiple hits, to be able to function afterward, and was supposed to be strong enough to withstand even the standard shells that would tear the plating apart of normal armor. Instead he watched in surprise as the right arm of the armor was crushed. With a pull it was ripped away. He pulled back only to watch in dismay as his own armor’s arm was used to bat at him.

To those outside of the armor they watched as the black armor, Avarice, beat the armor of Platinum Reserve to pieces with its own arm. There were cries of surprise as the head of the silver armor was batted away. Soon the other arm followed, then the legs, and when the arm that was being used as a club was no longer able to function It was tossed to the side. Everyone watched, in abject horror, as the foot of Avarice came down on the chest of the armor.

“Tell everyone here, loudly, that you admit defeat. Do it, or things are going to get very cramped inside that armor of yours.”

“You brutish, vile, horrible individual! There’s not a gentleman’s bone in that body of yours!”

The foot began to press, and the sound of the outer shell of Platinum Reserve’s armor began to crack. The sound filled the stadium they were in. The sounds of cries filled the air, “Better hurry,” he taunted, “I mean the longer you hold off the worse this is going to be.”

The sound of cracking finally started to turn to sounds of intense strain. Copper realized that at this point the only thing keeping him from going all of the way through to the cockpit of Platinum Reserve’s armor was the frame of the armor itself. It was composed of magically enhanced steel, which was made from iron ore and ground charcoal together. Which made a rudimentary kind of steel. That steel was then enchanted by those with an infinity for enchantments that were building the armor.

From what had happened already Copper knew that the poorly created steel of Platinum Reserve’s armor wouldn’t hold out against the full might of Avarice. The foot continued to press against the chest of the armor like a hydraulic press slowly crushing a soda can. He wasn’t planning on stopping until either the observer stepped in and declared that Platinum Reserve was unable to continue, or Platinum Reserve himself gave up. A moment later he heard the first of the internal support beams for the armor give a grinding whine. That was it, officially Platinum Reserve was out of time.

“I admit defeat!” came the shout, “I admit defeat, please, don’t crush me!”

He lifted the foot of Avarice, stepped back, and watched as multiple members of the mechanics for the Prince and his cronies ran toward the downed armor. He could see them attempting to use the chest as it was meant, but after a moment it was obvious that it wasn’t going to open. Finally one of them looked toward him, “B…Copper Plum, would you please remove the chest piece?”

He stepped forward, laughing to himself as he reached down and grabbed the sealed chest plate. The moment he did Avarice pulled back, causing the sound of metal being ripped apart. Inside it was obvious that Platinum Reserve was alright. Although from what he could see things had indeed became cramped for him. He looked toward the Observer who didn’t move from their spot.

The realization hit him then. That was something that he remembered from the game itself. The Observer wasn’t a referee. He, or she, wasn’t there to actually end the match. Instead their entire purpose was to ensure that the rules of the duel were enforced. The only time they would interfere was if the rules were blatantly ignored. At that point they would end the duel, and the winner would be whoever had been winning up to that point. Well, if they were not the ones that were attempting to break the rules.

It meant that Platinum Reserve could have died, if he hadn’t given up. The only other way would have been if he completely destroyed his armor while not killing him. That would have spared his life, and ended the duel. After all, there was no duel if there was no weapon. He looked toward the four still standing members of the Prince’s group, and he could see the change in their body posture.

All of them looked unsettled by what was happening. They had witnessed someone that they expected to be far weaker suddenly take down one of their own. For them to have seen that would have been something of a rude awakening. It made him feel better in a way, so much so he grinned, “Okay, sweethearts, who’s next?” he asked has he stood there, “Which one of you are ready to step in here?”

“I’ll go,” Spear Point said, “I’ve had the most experience at battle, and to be honest I’m the one that’s got the best shot of taking him down in hand to hand combat. Platinum’s great at long distance fighting, but we all know that he’s absolutely worthless at hand to hand.”

With that Copper watched as Spear Point climbed into his armor. The fact that Avarice was able to pick up their communication was astounding. Added in it was able to filter out all of the other noise in the stadium. He felt the slight movement of Artemis, and he tried to keep himself focused on the battle. He felt her movements, and wondered why she was doing this right now, “My Captain,” she practically purred, “I am so excited by this. We’ve completely humiliated the one that called me, and Avarice, worthless junk. Can we continue to teach them a lesson? Please?”

“Of course we can,” he said as he watched the outside, “We’re going to teach them all to not look before they leap. He watched as Spear Point neared the center of the stadium, “Note that Spear Point actually is a decent pilot. While his armor is obviously mass produced he’s been able to get it to go well beyond its limits. That’s the reason why his armor is patched up from previous battles. His biggest downfall is that he knows how good he is. That’s why he doesn’t attempt to get better armor, or even get better weapons. He almost always uses the same cheaply made stuff that everyone else uses for practice.”

There was a slight bump from Artemis, “That means that he’s foolish,” she said, “After all, arrogance will only lead to foolish actions and behaviors. Let’s show him to reconsider his stance.”

“Pilots, please make your opening statements,” the Observer said, “Spear Point, you may go first.”

“Listen up Copper Plum. I can see now that you’re skilled. That’s good. I was worried that I would be bored out of my skull and not even get to fight. So, I’m not going to act like Platinum and just write you off. I’m going to come at you with the intention to kill. I expect the same from you.”

“He’s quite annoying, isn’t he?” Artemis asked as she wiggled in front of him, “Can we make your speech a little short, and just teach him his lesson?”

He laughed, “Spear Point,” he said his voice booming out to everyone around them, “I don’t like the idea of killing, but if you’re so ready to lose your life, well, I guess assisting with suicide isn’t the same as killing, is it?”

“Begin duel!”