Chapter 353: What is there to fear? He's just an old guy selling fruit by the street!
[Hundred Demons' Night Parade backlash in progress—]
[Under the influence of the 'Mecha Combat' entry, the machine you are piloting begins to undergo random 'demon/yokai transformations'—]
[You used the special item 'Book of Ys Heart' to narrow the Hundred Demons' Night Parade transformation range to 'Armored Warriors: Full Metal Panic'—]
[The 'MSW-16 M GATES LB Type Aoko' you are piloting has mutated into 'G-13 EX Zero Gouki Full Armament Type'.]
After a dramatic transformation comparable to Getter Robo's nanobot morphing, the mecha piloted by Cheng Tian had completely taken on the appearance of Gouki.
It sported the same blue livery as Gouki's martial arts gi, five-fingered steel fists perfectly mimicking human hands, metal geta on its feet, and striking red prayer beads and a towering topknot.
The mecha's right shoulder was emblazoned with a large Chinese character 'Australia' (Gou), and the center of the skirt armor bore the mecha's full name, 'Zero Gouki' (Zero Gouki).
The originally somewhat dull dual-eye cameras on Zero Gouki's head suddenly sprouted a pair of agile, human-like eyes, much like the Getter Robo in high synchronization with Ryoma Nagare.
Zero Gouki first nimbly wiggled its fingers, confirming zero-latency with each digit, then performed two small hops in place, emitting a sound surprisingly light for its massive body.
Then, under the intensely bewildered and shocked gazes of both allied units and the enemy BOSS, it adopted the I-style assassination fist stance, hands slightly open and curved, placed high and low, and feet spread apart.
"Zero... Gouki?"
Almost simultaneously, Azrael in the Warlock and the Main Brain, now reduced to two brains, both exclaimed the name of this mecha.
According to a certain document on Armored Warriors Earth, there was once a legend of the strongest pugilist in the fighting world, known as "Gouki" or "Akuma."
The pinnacle of fists? The fist that slays gods and demons?
At least in legend, Gouki's titles were not exaggerated; they were earned through actual combat. An unknown designer, filled with deep admiration and reverence for this pugilist, designed and built a large humanoid mecha specialized in fighting—Zero Gouki—as a tribute.
The mecha's power source was completely unknown; one theory suggested it was driven by the pilot's killing intent.
Unlike the piloting methods of most mechas in that world, Zero Gouki's cockpit was equipped with a voice input device, allowing the mecha to be controlled by the pilot's voice.
For some, shouting out the names of moves when executing them might be a somewhat embarrassing chuunibyou act.
But if you think about it, when playing poker offline, don't people usually shout out auxiliary phrases like "Two eights!" "Bomb!" "Three with one!" "Cover it!" "Can't beat it!" when playing cards?
The designer incorporated the voice input device based on this inspiration.
However, for Cheng Tian, it was no longer necessary; at this moment, he had vanished from the cockpit, merging with the 'demonized' mecha beneath him.
But the reactions of those around him were even more interesting than Cheng Tian's situation.
Not only Azrael and the Main Brain, but also many Laian soldiers in the Resistance recognized Cheng Tian's new form and shouted out the mecha's name, "Zero Gouki."
However, the reason behind this was actually more interesting than imagined—
This Zero Gouki was, in fact, a fantasy mecha from a mini-animated series called 'Armored Warriors: Full Metal Panic,' which became popular in the 'Armored Warriors' world after the peace treaty was signed between the two planets in 2280!
It was a purely fictional mecha that didn't actually exist!
Because it aired during the 'honeymoon period' after the peace treaty, and most of the mechas appearing in the series had real-life prototypes, plus it was a very rare sci-fi ensemble drama where one could track different protagonists and view the story from multiple perspectives, it had extremely high rewatch value. Therefore, both Earthlings and Laians generally watched it, and its viewership ratings were extremely high.
Among the many series mechas with prototypes, Zero Gouki was undoubtedly the most unique, a monstrous mecha that simply couldn't be built under real-world theoretical foundations.
And for the people of this world, such a purely fictional mecha, which should only exist on the other side of the television screen, appeared before their eyes. The shock was no different from people in the real world seeing a truly movable RX-78-2 Gundam standing on the ground.
They never would have guessed that Cheng Tian's Zero Gouki came from a very niche spin-off of 'Armored Warriors.'
In the words of real-life players, it was usually called 'Armored Warriors Fighting Edition,' but its original name was 'Armored Warriors: Full Metal Panic.'
The game incorporated most of the mechas controlled by both friendly and enemy forces in the cleared versions into the game as controllable fighting units, with arm, shoulder, and leg attachments swapped and modified to differentiate abilities and models.
In the human-dominated fighting game scene, using robots for combat was clearly a very bold decision, but Capcom still did it, and in terms of importance, Capcom was actually more invested in the fighting edition.
This is because one of the male protagonists of the series, "Saotome Shinobu," and his paired mecha, "Brodiya," later appeared as guest characters in 'Marvel vs. Capcom,' becoming controllable characters.
However, in the normal arcade version, the 'Zero Gouki' mecha did not exist; it only appeared as a selectable mecha in the PS and SS versions for home consoles.
Unlike the other selectable mechas, which more closely resembled their original intended mecha combat styles, Zero Gouki's combat mode almost completely replicated Gouki, the source of its design, from the 'Street Fighter' world.
Under Cheng Tian's integrated control, Zero Gouki's hands were already simultaneously pulled to its right waist, and visibly high energy gathered in its metallic palms.
Seeing this, the Main Brain, now unable to ponder how this mecha from a fictional work appeared, controlled the twin-headed dragon mechanical arms extending from its sides. The dragon heads opened their mouths wide, and after a brief charge, directly fired a high-temperature fireball at Zero Gouki!
"Shakunetsu! Hadoken!"
Facing such an attack, Zero Gouki pushed its palms forward. The energy projectile, originally white, was instantly enveloped in flames, colliding mid-air with the opposing dragon-head fireball.
But after a momentary standoff, Zero Gouki's Shakunetsu Hadoken suddenly emitted a golden aura, and the next second, the dragon-head fireball was shattered on the spot. The Shakunetsu Hadoken, with almost no loss of power, mercilessly slammed into the twin-headed dragon mechanical arms that the Main Brain had used for cross-defense—
Demon Concerto! Judgement Arrow Enhancement!