I found a shiny Metang! Its nature was Rash!

Damn it! You ruined (my daily posting)! You're always like this.

This shiny Metang with the bafflingly useless CDS 3V spread is your life itself. You always fail.

You start all kinds of things, but you never finish a single one.

No one loves you.

I am terribly sorry...

Chapter 172: The Arrogant and Insolent Challenger: Ignition

???: "Well now, with the exhibition match reaching Sylvia's turn, hasn't Nitro Squad found themselves in a rather dire situation?"

???: "Indeed. As things stand, the ability of No Face remains an unknown quantity, so the only one capable of opposing Sylvia would be Uomi..."

No Name: "Apparently a combat medic just got shot on the battlefield inside his stomach, so he's having a rough time!"

The question of how she can accurately grasp the gastrointestinal condition of a person not even present here is not one that takes priority over the fact that Sylvia Goldberg's battle is about to begin.

???: "Ah, is that so... At any rate, we're now about to see the true ability of the other mysterious masked player revealed."

???: "And now, character selection! For Sylvia, it's only natural—or rather, inevitable—it's Metius!"

???: "As you could see in the previous match, Metius is a hero character with exceptionally outstanding mobility. His durability suffers somewhat for it, but combined with Sylvia's skill in embodying the principle of 'if you don't get hit, it doesn't matter,' she monopolizes the title of strongest."

???: "In fact, there's a saying among fighting game pros: 'You're only a full-fledged player once you land a single hit on Sylvia's Metius.'"

Indeed, research into countermeasures for Sylvia Goldberg—who has continued her undefeated streak ever since her brilliant debut—is ongoing even now. To the extent that anonymous message boards occasionally see posts from people who clearly possess information only a pro gamer could know, those aiming to topple Sylvia are gathering every scrap of data.

And the conclusion they've reached is "counterattacks." It is impossible to catch Metius. With no walls, no ground, no ceiling—everything is just a "path" for the shooting star to run—chasing and catching him is out of the question. In that case, the only option is to intercept the attacks coming at you. The saying "you're full-fledged once you land a hit on Sylvia's Metius" also means "you're full-fledged once you can deal with attacks delivered at ultra-high speed on ultra-high trajectories."

Returning to the topic, the character said to have the most advantageous matchup against Metius is "Amdrava." That's because two players who once cornered Sylvia Goldberg used that character. It can force a favorable matchup against close-range—strictly speaking, bare-handed combat-focused—characters through high defensive performance and slip damage.

And conversely, characters that are "weak to close-range fighters" and "can't keep up with Metius's speed" start at a disadvantage against Metius, against Sylvia Goldberg, the moment the matchup begins.

And the character No Face slowly, but without hesitation, selected—for the very reasons stated above—was a villain with a pathetic 3:7 matchup against Metius, despite ostensibly being Metius's arch-nemesis.

???: "And now, No Face's character is... wait, no way—Cursed Prison!?"

Slamming a glove to the ground. Sending a formal challenge. Declaring where the opponent's head deserves to be displayed... Across all times and places, there exist battles where neither the weak nor the strong hold back, where full strength is demanded. And against the absolute champion, the unidentified challenger has thrown down the greatest possible gauntlet.

???: "Cursed Prison! It's Cursed Prison! The arch-nemesis of the hero 'Metius'—the Cursed Prison, Cursed Prison!!"

It's not as if there have never been Cursed Prison users among the players who've challenged Sylvia Goldberg in the past. But all such challengers were crushed under the sheer ferocity of her full power. Before long, using Cursed Prison against Sylvia Goldberg came to be regarded as a kind of taboo. And so, if someone still chooses Cursed Prison despite that, it can only mean...

... "Come at me with everything you've got, you piece of shit."

If the goal was to stall for time, shouldn't Cursed Prison be avoided? That was Pencilgon's question, but I don't have that option. Frankly speaking, if I'm to stand a chance against Sylvia Goldberg, it won't be with some easier-to-use character or a Metius mirror match. It has to be Cursed Prison.

Stalling for time can, in a sense, be harder than simply winning. Because no matter how many buffs and debuffs you deploy, how high you raise your player skill, how much you bend RNG to your side... time is merciless. Even if you had specs that could deal damage in the billions, trillions, or beyond, you can't speed up the hands of the clock. It just comes down to "shut up and buy time."

But just because you're giving up on winning doesn't mean you can stall with a loadout that can't win. Ultimately, stalling achieves its quota only in a situation where you could win but choose not to. The old samurai, the fairy, the cyborg... I found several characters I'd feel comfortable with, but the only one that gave me a "glimmer of a chance against America's number one" was Cursed Prison, with its 3:7 matchup in the previous title. Cursed Prison is overwhelmingly disadvantaged against Metius. I hear that this matchup has never been overturned in any installment of Galaxia Heroes. Aren't you ashamed as an arch-nemesis...? Well, setting that aside, in every title, Cursed Prison has never missed that 30% win rate.

No Face: "That thirty percent is the key...!!"

I see. The assessment of "a bouncing Wethermon" is exactly right. Facing her directly, I understand: her bizarre mobility, verging on human TAS, makes you seriously question whether you're really fighting a human. Through the barrage of bullets screamed out by the gatling gun—Cursed Prison's default equipment, you could say—the shooting star swims, charging through with the same complex three-dimensional maneuvering she used against Pencilgon, launching an assault on me. But too bad—

No Face: "That one was the weakest of the Four Heavenly Kings!!"

When you think of games where something's mobility depends on wheels, the first thing that comes to mind is racing games. However, when it comes to wheels operating on human legs, the reference shouldn't be a racing car—it should be a tank. The greatest advantage of non-human-powered wheeled legs, I believe, is the ability to turn one's body 180 degrees without moving the waist or legs. By rotating the wheels on my right and left legs in opposite directions, I execute a super-pivot turn on the spot. The gatling gun, swung around as if to pound the very air, fires bullets to shoot down the shooting star.

Ah, I know. I know, damn it. This might force her to dodge, but it won't land. So...

No Face: "Fall, blue LED!!"

Sylvia: "Wha—!?"

As long as she's kicking off walls to attack me, her only option to evade in midair is an aerial jump. And the exact moment she steps on empty air and leaps—that's the opening for an attack. After all, her action frames aren't finished yet! Metius, shot down by the aerial shotgun blast, flips himself around as if such a thing is nothing, and lands. The star-shaped goggles reflect the light, making it hard to see the eyes behind them, but Sylvia seems more surprised than I expected... at what I'm capable of.

Sylvia: "Not bad."

No Face: "Thanks...!"

I'm honored by the praise, but this isn't the kind of restriction I can be satisfied with. She's probably already figured out that my ammo count is running low. Like Katzo, these hardcore fighting game types have a creepy level of precision in reading their opponent's status.

Sylvia: "Still, the fact that you've stood before me with that means you want my full power, don't you?"

No Face: "I hate being toyed with."

Sylvia: "I'll buy that fight—with a tip."

Taking the first round might be tough. As her ferocious grin fills my vision and her kick comes crashing in, I can't help but think that.

...Still not coming.

Due to the aforementioned reason, I'm going to go save Alola for a bit, so updates might... uh, well, yeah, ah, yes, I'll write properly, yes, yes.