I Became God's Reaper in Another Universe

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The crowd went wild at the revelation of A.V.I's groundbreaking innovation in technology. Not only had they, up to now, made mechs that were obviously much stronger and better in every aspect when compared to other mechs at a cheaper price, but they had also created a way to control mechs that did away with the controls for their more advanced tier of mechs.

This revelation was one that threw everyone's plans and expectations out of the window. One of the current heads of the Reaper Institute of Mech Research and Development, Rick Schwartz, who had attended this year's mech convention was left in awe. This institute had been at the helm for the past 100 years when it came to the development of mechs and weaponry, and though their main focus was the Reaper class, it wasn't their only focus.

It was pretty much a well-known fact that if you wanted to work in the field of mech development, attending one of the Institutes of Mech R & D was the way to go, and out of all of the Institutes, the Reaper Institute of Mech R & D was the best of the best.

"Whoever was the one leading this development must have been a genius of our academy," Rick said to his assistant sitting next to him.

The assistant nodded but stopped as she looked at her datapad, a frown adorning her face. "Sir, according to the record of all of our students, we don't have a single report of any one of them working for this new company."

Rick frowned as he heard this, "That can't be possible, maybe our system is glitching." 

The Reaper Institute of Mech R & D had a database that kept track of every single one of their alumnus and where they were working or if they had abandoned their corporate lives to work as private contractors for mercenary groups. Another database also compiled all of the other institute's databases into one for easier information sharing between the institutes.

Rick's assistant shook her head as she refreshed the datapad and searched for A.V.I within the companies their alumni work for, but nothing came up. "No sir, whoever was the person, or the team that made this breakthrough, they were not from our institute or any other institute."

Rick raised his eyebrows, "Now that's surprising. How did such a mind, or group of them, manage to do this without attending any Institute? Better yet, how did such brilliant minds fly under everyone's radar?"

"Good question sir, even for A.V.I's CEO and their board of directors, there is no information about them at all, as if they just appeared out of thin air," Rick's assistant said in agreement.

Just like Rick and his assistant, many were having similar conversations about the groundbreaking technology A.V.I had just presented. From CEOs to normal working men and even kids, everyone was amazed by this new development in mech piloting technology. 

Aspen allowed the people to murmur about and talk for almost 5 minutes before he interrupted everyone's conversations. "Alright everyone, settle down. If anyone wants to buy the secrets to this breakthrough they would have to contact my board of directors and they can negotiate a price for selling such valuable information to you all."

Those who were affiliated with a mech company, be it a manufacturer or a developer, took the offer seriously while the majority of the audience, those who were just there for the show, chuckled.

"Alright, I will just give a short description of this bad boy and how it impacts a pilot's ability to command their mech. It is obviously on the mid to higher-tier end of the spectrum for mechs for various reasons. First of all, it's quite demanding on the brain power of pilots as well as demanding on a pilot's own physical power." 

"Every single Vanguard has the ability to fight for days on end without rest due to its reactors, a new neat little creation of ours that we have taken to naming the 'Eternium Nova Reator.'" Aspen's words caused the crowd to go into an uproar again.

"Oh, did I forget to mention our breakthrough in reactor technology as well? Sorry about that, just know that this information is NOT for sale. Anyways, what was I saying? Ah, yes, the Vanguards can all run for days on end with their only limit being their pilot's endurance and physical prowess."

"All of the movements done by the mech, as I said before, are controlled through your own movements and your Neural Link which allows for the Vanguard's integrated AI to work in conjunction with its pilot for ease of movement and certain actions."

Aspen paused for a second allowing the audience to take in this new information. He then spread out his arms and his body was immediately levitated as the Vanguard spread its wings and its thrusters turned on, allowing it to float majestically just above the ground. Multiple small thrusters spat out bits of air allowing the mech to be perfectly stabilized while in the air.

"Of course, the arm thing was just for theatrics, to go into flight mode you just have to think it, and your Neural link will send the information over to the AI allowing you to go from ground to air in a split second."

Aspen's Vanguard then dropped to the ground as he opened his arms out, the mech mimicking his movements instantly. "Did I mention that there is almost no delay between your actions and the time it takes for the Vanguard to mimic them? That's right, the Vanguard will mimic your actions within point 1 to point 5 milliseconds, allowing for a pretty seamless and smooth operation."

The audience gasped in awe at the revelation of the fast replication of movement. Although mechs also had almost instantaneous movement from the moment its pilot moved its controls, the input time was still slower with it being within the range of 5 to 10 milliseconds.

"Now, that's enough talking from me. To demonstrate the real prowess of our Tier 4 Vanguard….." Aspen paused for a second, allowing the suspense to weigh on the audience. "A deathmatch will be taking place."

The crowd gasped and many stood up from their seats. A deathmatch, an event that was commonly used for entertainment, an event where rules didn't matter as long as the mechs were of the same tier.

"It will not be a regular deathmatch, I assure you. I will personally face off against 7 Tier 4 mechs of the pilot's choice. So the first 7 Beta tier pilots to volunteer at the entrance of the testing grounds to this deathmatch will face me, to the death. I'm more than confident in the Vanguard's abilities. Now I will do my best to not kill the pilots who have the balls to face me, but if you were to die, your families would be compensated with 10 million credits. Let me also add, that you may kill me… if you're able to. If I am not killed, but my mech is out of commission, all those who participate will be brought to our factory I will personally help them create a custom tier 4 or 5 Vanguard."

The crowd gasped once again. Not only did the CEO of A.V.I just call for a deathmatch against 7 mechs of the pilot's choice, but he would also be holding back as to try not to kill the pilots he would be facing, and in case he did kill them, their families would be compensated with millions of credits. And if he was to be defeated, all of the pilots would earn a custom tier 4 or 5 mech!

At the sound of this offer, about two thousand men and women from all over the arena stood up and ran in the direction of the entrance of the testing grounds, all vying to be the first to reach the doors.

Only 30 seconds had passed since Aspen had made the offer and the first 7 Beta tier pilots had arrived at the door. Although the temptation to pilot a Reaper ate away at them all, not all chose to pilot one, settling instead with the mechs they were more used to piloting. 

The pilots were 5 men and 2 women and they were all from mercenary groups. One of the men chose to pilot a Reaper while the other 4 chose to pilot 1 Void Sentinel, 2 Valkyries, and 1 Viper. One of the two women chose to pilot a Warlock while the other chose to pilot a Parallax.

 All mechs were tier 4 mechs and were provided by the Mech Association who were the organizers of the Mech Conference. After Aspen's words, they had decided to immediately volunteer the mechs as the cost was minimal to them and this would instead bring even more publicity to the Empire of Trent's Mech Conference. Something that in turn, would likely bring more revenue and funding to future conferences.

As the other Pilots readied themselves for the fight, Aspen unsheathed his sword from his back and planted it into the ground before him. His actions brought about murmurs and discussion between the audience members, all wondering if he was just being cocky. But his next actions left them with even more questions.

Aspen's Vanguard kneeled down before the sword, its head hanging low, as if in reverence. After about a minute, his mech stood up straight, staring at its opponents. The Vanguard then gripped the sword by the handle and yanked it free from the ground, holding it up in the air and examining it before getting into a battle stance.

The Vanguard squatted a little and held its left arm straight out in front of it while its right arm gripped onto the sword and rested part of the blade on it. The Vanguard then leaned forward a little as the other mechs got into their battle stance, some taking out their melee weapons while others chose to use their rifles, hoping to end the battle before it had a chance to get into melee range.

The hologram underneath Salazar's platform glowed in a clock as the countdown began. This time, the audience joined in on the countdown.

"10, 9, 8…3, 2, 1, FIGHT!"

As soon as the hologram disappeared, 5 mechs rushed to charge at Aspen. Leading the Charge was the Reaper, followed closely by the Void Sentinel, the Viper, and the 2 Valkyries, while the Warlock and the Parallax stayed behind.

The two Valkyries split, one going to Aspen's left flank while the other went to his right flank. While this was going on, the Warlock initiated its electronic attacks on the Vanguard, but it was to no avail. The Vanguard's AI detected the threat and neutralized the electronic attack that had been sent their way.

Aspen had yet to move, allowing the enemies to draw nearer. As the enemies got closer, the Valkyries stopped their approach, taking out their rifles and firing a single bullet almost simultaneously.

Aspen quickly reacted with the help of the AI, angling his sword just as the bullet shot by the Valkyrie to the left was about to reach him. The round wasn't slowed by the shields, slamming into the Vanguard's sword and bouncing exactly into the trajectory of the other Valkyrie's round. 

In a split second, 2 giant sparks were seen, leaving the crowd wondering what happened. On the holograms, an instant replay was shown, with the speed slowed down to capture the movements made by Aspen and the shots colliding with one another.

Seeing this, the audience was stunned. Many Beta and even the few dozens of Alpha level pilots that had attended opened their eyes wide. This wasn't just a display of the Vanguard's capabilities, but also a display of Aspen's piloting skills. 

"Minimal movements, he reminds me of our old academy's professors," one of the Alpha-tier pilots said to their fellow comrades next to him. His comrades nodded in agreement.

Aspen Vanguard planted its sword before him once against and equipped its rifle. Aspen quickly aimed and fired two shots at the Valkyrie to the left. The first shot bounced off but left the Valkyrie's shield glowing orange. The second shot hit it in the exact same spot and caused its shields to flicker. A split second later the third shot slammed into the Valkyrie's shield, barely reducing speed before punching through it and slamming into its head, completely destroying it.

The Valkyrie lost balance and tumbled forward, out of the fight. Most of the audience cheered at how quickly the Valkyrie was taken out of the fight while other members of the audience, the pilots, were shitting themselves.

"Three shots to destroy bypass 4 shields? Even a Reaper's rifle has to land at least 5 shots before that."

"And it shoots rather quick too, it isn't a sniper rifle, more like a regular rifle with power far surpassing it."

Aspen switched his sights to the other Valkyrie and shot two shots. At the same time, the Parallax far back opened fire. Its round whizzed through the air, passing between the Viper, the Reaper, and the Void sentinel. Just as the shot was about to reach the Vanguard, it turned its head in the direction of the shot. 

The round stopped right before its optics. It then started to drop but the Vanguard grabbed it midair before doing a spin and hurling it at the Valkyrie. The round spun as it flew, slamming into the Valkyrire's leg and bending it out of shape, forcing its step to falter before tumbling. This caused the crowd to erupt into a frenzy.

The Reaper, Void Sentinel, and Viper pressed forward, all taking into the air to close the distance even faster while the Warlock and Parallax adjusted their strategies. The Parallax kept on firing, adjusting its aim after every shot in an attempt to predict the Vanguard's next move, while the Warlock attempted another round of electronic warfare, desperate to disrupt the Vanguard one way or another.

Aspen's neural link fed him real-time information faster than any traditional neural link. He could sense the Parallax shifting its targeting after firing, feel the Warlock's electronic attacks fizzling against his system's impenetrable defenses, and anticipate the movements of the incoming mechs. His mind and body acted as one with the Vanguard, an extension of himself in ways no other pilot could dream of.

The Reaper was the first to reach him and it swung at the Vanguard, its scythe carving through the air. Aspen simply sidestepped as the blade missed, slicing into the ground and kicking up a storm of dust and debris. 

Aspen took advantage of this and kneed the Reaper in the cockpit, this time the attack was more devastating than when the Tier 3 Vanguard went up against the 2 Reapers. The shields did not even activate as they were only meant to defend against weapons, not the touch of another mech.

Part of the cockpit caved in, pinning its pilot on the inside but not killing him. Aspen was about to finish off the Reaper, but the Viper and the Void Sentinel both reached him before he could do so.

The Void Sentinel came in hot, swinging a high-frequency axe down toward Aspen's shoulder. Aspen responded by raising his left arm, which had the physical shield attached to it, meeting the attack head-on. The Vanguard's shields, which were always active due to the vast supply of energy from its downgraded Eternium Nova Reactors, stopped the axe before it could even chip the paint. 

This was followed by a punch that sent the Void Sentinel skidding backward. But Aspen wasn't done. He bent down, dodging the Viper's short sword, before rolling and picking up the Vanguard sword that was impaled into the ground, all in one fluid motion.

Using the momentum, he reached for the Void Sentinel with the Vanguard's left arm, engaging his thrusters for a split second to reach it. He gripped its collar, looking down at the 10-meter tall mech, and abused a major flaw of the current mech shields.

When in contact with another mech, the shields will fail to activate at all times. Not because it was a preventative measure, no, it was a very simple issue to fix, for Aspen, that is. The reason was due to a very small amount of magnetic interference caused by the touching of two mech frames. Yes, such a simple thing was enough to cause such a complex system to fail.

Aspen thrust the Vanguard's sword to the right, just below the Void Sentinel's cockpit, and slashed left. This action destroyed all cabling below the cockpit, effectively stopping the reactor from feeding power to the mech's systems and destroying controls to the legs. In other words, the Void Sentinel was basically bisected while still in one piece.

Aspen wasn't given a chance to breathe as another shot fired by the Parallax stopped just shy of his mech. The Vanguard's shields, though powerful and powered by the downgraded Eternium Nova reactor, were starting to reach their limits. They had already blocked 7 sniper shots from the Parallax and a swing from the Void Sentinel, meaning that it could only take 8 more direct hits before going offline for 10 minutes to recharge.

Aspen rolled left, barely dodging another downward swing from the Reaper that had managed to recover and grab its scythe again. A split second later Aspen had to activate his thrusters to push himself back to dodge a swing from the Viper's short sword. He then took up to the air just in time for a shot from the damaged Valkyrie to fly right under him and slam into the Viper's shields.

Aspen then flew in the direction of the damaged Valkyrie which had taken to the air. The Valkyrie opened fire on him but Aspen, with the assistance of the AI, managed to dodge all shots. His swift movements while in the air coupled with the way he was fighting and how quickly the mech moved had many in the audience on the edge of their seats.

 Aspen came to a sudden stop mid-flight just in front of the Valkyrie and swung his sword, severing the mech's head clean off its frame. The Valkyrie maintained flight, but Aspen forced it down to the ground knocking on its cockpit before saying, "You're out of the fight."

He didn't waste any more time and took up the air again, flying back to the Viper and Reaper. The Reaper had decided to switch its approach, taking out its rifle rather than facing the Vanguard head-on where its pilot knew it held no advantage.

Shots rang out from in front and to the right of Aspen's mech as he flew toward the Viper. 3 more shots were stopped midair by the Vanguard's shields bringing his high damage hit counter remaining down to only 5. Aspen's shields were starting to glow a rosy pink, now clearly visible to the naked eye.

He reached the Viper, which had taken out its rifle and opened fire on him. However, the Viper's rifle was nowhere near as powerful as a Reaper's rifle or a Parallax's sniper rifle. The shots came flying at Aspen with about 20 of them finding their mark before harmlessly falling to the ground. 

Aspen grabbed onto the Viper who needed to reload and spoke to its pilot while looking down at it, "Quite the accuracy there, unlucky for you that it's still not enough to bypass the Vanguard's shield."

Without another word, Aspen swung his sword downward and sliced off the Viper's right arm before lifting up the mech and using it as a shield so that the Reaper wouldn't open fire. The Vanguard then ran toward the Reaper, at a slower pace than normal but still rather fast considering the fact that it was now carrying almost double its own weight.

The audience lost it when they witnessed this, chanting Aspen's persona.

"Azrael!"

"Azrael!"

"Azrael!"

Aspen closed the distance with the Reaper, stabbing the Viper in the head before tossing its frame toward the Reaper, causing it to dodge left. Aspen had predicted its movement and swung his sword from the left to the right, skating off the Reaper's shields while turning them orange with a single hit.

At the same time, another shot reached Aspen's exposed back, stopping just shy of the Vanguard. The distance the shots were stopping at was becoming shorter and shorter with every shot that the shields stopped. Aspen glanced at the remaining heavy-hit counters and realized he only had 2 more hits left, the exterior of his mech was now coated in an orange hue.

Aspen didn't pay attention to it and swung again at the Reaper who had brought its scythe up to block the hit. The result was something that shocked the audience. The Reaper's scythe, which was made from one of the strongest Tier 4 materials comparable to the materials used to line the outer casing of space fighters, was cut in half.

Rick stood up from his chair in his VIP booth and approached the glass before slamming his fist on it, "JUST WHAT IN THE FUCK IS THAT SWORD MADE OF?"

The Reaper's pilot was left stunned, holding the two pieces that were once his scythe. Aspen quickly swung his sword and slashed through the shields, decapitating the Reaper. Without wasting any time, Aspen backflipped over a shot from the Parallax which struck the Reaper, forcing it to drop to the ground to avoid further damage. 

Aspen's Vanguard looked down at the Reaper before slowly turning its head in the direction of the Parallax and the Warlock, staring directly at the Parallax. The sight of a horned mech with its wings spread caused a chill to run down the spine of the woman piloting it.

Aspen then started a slow and deliberately menacing walk in the direction of the two, his sword cutting into the ground as it dragged behind him. The Parallax opened fire, striking the Vanguard whose shields had now started to glow a bright red. Then another shot followed and the Vanguard's shields disappeared, but Aspens' menacing walk still continued.

The Parallax continued its barrage, the Warlock joining it. Aspen simply raised his left arm to block the incoming fire from the Warlock, the bullets ricocheting off the shield without impeding his movements.

The Parallax went to reload and as it did, Aspen started moving faster and faster before reaching a running speed of 260 kmh, covering the 1 km distance between the 3 of them in mere seconds. The Pilot of the Warlock jumped aside in fear of having such a fast-moving target slam into it. 

But Aspen wasn't aiming for the Warlock, he reached the Parallax and stopped almost immediately in front of it. In a split second, he yanked its sniper rifle from its hands before grabbing onto the head of the Parallax and spinning. He then slammed the Parallax face-first into the wall of the testing grounds with such force that it deformed the material it had been made of.

Aspen then turned to the Warlock and walked to it, his sword once again dragging on the ground behind him. At the sight of this, the Warlock's pilot decided to throw her rifle and short sword aside. 

This was the smartest thing the pilot could have ever done since the Warlock exceeded at one and only one function, electronic warfare. Its rifle was to give its pilot hope and a last line of defense. As for its short sword, let's just say you'd have better luck slicing through glass with a plastic butter knife than using it. The mech's lack of raw power and movement meant that when it came to melee, its pilot was simply fucked.

Aspen nodded at the actions of the pilot in control of the Warlock, "Wise choice."

The audience had exploded in shouts of excitement. Men, women, and children all celebrated the raw display of sheer overpowering performance over impossible odds. Aspen raised his left arm, his shield, which was once a pristine white and gold, now bore tones of silver scratches from the last minute of the fight.

Aspen stood victorious, his 12-meter Vanguard towered over the fallen mechs and the sole standing Warlock. The demonstration had ended, but the message was clear: there's a new king in town. 

With all of the innovation and new technology displayed and hidden in the Vanguard, one thing was clear: the age of traditional mech combat was over. A.V.I had just come in and changed the game forever.

Salazar finally snapped back into his job and spoke, "Ladies and gentlemen… a new horseman of death has just been introduced to you all, and it clearly dominated its competition. With a shockingly low price for its performance, I present you A.V.I's tier 4 Vanguard, with a starting price of 170 million credits."

Word Count: 4198 Words 👏

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