The Undying Mecha Emperor

"Get to your mechas and assemble! Jack, Sherry, Victor, Roland, Barrick and Olivia, confirm the location of the enemy flags and await our arrival in a safe place.

Justin, you take the flag and lead our charge into the enemy base." Sheera instructed.

"They won\'t be expecting our full charge and our flag to appear that way. It will cause them to descend into chaos, and allow us to gain an advantage." She explained.

"Alright. I will do it. Find me the fattest and strongest mecha-"

"No. Carry it in a light mecha." Sheera interrupted me.

"What!!" I exploded at her. "You want me to die?"

My Devour was dormant, and I had no way of strengthening my mecha. If I charge into the enemy using only a light mecha, I would be screwed.

Big time.

"Hmmm? Lost your secret technique?" Sheera frowned at me.

"It\'s uh, currently not available." I admitted.

"Fine. Plan B it is. Get the heaviest mecha you can find, take the flag, a couple hundred mechas and charge at the nearest enemy base. If you can get the enemy flag, shoot the green signal, we will come and reinforce you.

If you lose the flag, shoot the red signal and try to come back alive. We will let the other grades fight it out first before we sweep in near the end to win it all. Being first graders, the others won\'t find it suspicious that we lost our flag so quickly " Sheera said and looked me in the eye.

It was another suicide mission.

Have I told you that Sheera Lin was a vicious, cold blooded genius general?

It was an excellent plan, of course. If I did well, we would have two flags, and she was confident she could duke it out with the other grades.

If I didn\'t do well, well, it was Phase One of her plan.

"Try and succeed." She smiled at me before turning to the rest of the kids.

"We will proceed in three waves. The first and second waves would consist of one thousand mechas, the third wave would be three thousand. Gather up! We will move out towards the mountains in five minutes!"

It was utter chaos, of course.

Nothing could get done in just five minutes.

Thousands of kids were running all over the place, calling out to each other, trying to get to their groups.

But nonetheless, the first bunch of mechas, around three hundred or so, were gathered within those five short minutes.

I had found myself a normal looking heavy mecha with a massive tower shield and a long spear, and was among the three hundred who were ready.

"Special Forces! Move out! Engage the enemy as soon as you make contact!" Sheera Lin called out from her own heavy mecha surrounded by the entire Lin Family kids less Sherry Lin.

"Woah! We\'re part of the Special Forces? Awesome!"

"Move out!!"

"Let\'s go kill some weak ass second graders!"

Morale was very high after our incredible victories in the past few weeks.

But I wasn\'t feeling it.

A critical part of our victories were due to my prowess on the battlefield, which was dormant and inaccessible at that moment.

Without it, I felt like I was just a little lamb delivering our flag to the enemy.

I hated that feeling.

"I had grown far too reliant on Devour." I realized. "This is not good. I will use this opportunity when Devour is dormant to prove to myself that I am still able to dominate! Afterall, my RPL is probably still miles ahead of everyone!"

With extreme ease, I piloted my heavy mecha and charged ahead of my little group of just three hundred.

I was headed in the general direction of the northern mountains while I awaited the latest intel on the enemy position.

In a mission that requires us to locate our enemies, our mecha\'s heavy footsteps became jarringly conspicuous.

It was something I did not notice during direct battles with the enemy.

Boom. Boom. Boom.

Our footsteps thundered down the valleys and revealed our position to anyone nearby with a pair of ears and a brain.

I frowned.

I knew Sheera was sending me to my doom. But was there another layer of play which she was planning? Everything seemed off somehow.

"Something doesn\'t feel right." Eliana announced calmly.

"Yes, you\'re right." Elise agreed without hesitation.

The two girls had been assigned to my suicide squad, for some strange reason I did not understand.

"Why waste two perfectly good general-calibre manpower to die along with me when they could be better assigned to die elsewhere? Oh right. They are pawns just like me. This is probably another chess move by Sheera. Kill the flag bearer and pretend to defect or something." I had thought glumly.

But it was not the time to think dark thoughts. I had an entire academy of future aces as my opponents, and it was an excellent opportunity for me to learn by doing and grow into my full potential.

"Three step halt." I commanded.

Boom. Boom. Boom.

The three hundred kids who came along with me were the fastest ones to their mechas and the fastest ones to gather, and as such, they were probably much better in quality.

The three hundred mechas impressively executed the three step halt flawlessly, and the entire valley we were in fell completely silent all of a sudden.

"What are you planning to do? Why have we stopped?" Elise asked me.

"We\'re sitting ducks here out in the open. I think we should hide somewhere instead of just standing here like free targets." Eliana added.

Eliana was right, of course. I should have given it more thought before ordering the three step halt.

But I would be damned if I admit that I gave the order on a whim to the two pretty Wang girls.

"Relax. Trust me." I told them easily and confidently. "There\'s more than what meets the eye. Just wait for my next instruction."