Then, the floor shook. A massive door at the far end of the arena ground open.
"Behold! The Hammer Bot!" the commentator shouted, the crowd's cheer reaching a deafening crescendo. File: Clone.Drone.in.the.Danger.Zone.v1.3.1.37....
The arena smelled of ozone and hot oil. I blinked my optical sensors, adjusting to the bright, neon-soaked coliseum. My legs felt heavy, articulated hydraulic joints hissing with every tentative step I took. Then, the floor shook
I didn't think; I reacted. I dashed to the right as the arrow whistled past my head, clanging against the arena wall. My metal feet clattered against the floor. I closed the distance, swung my sword in a wide horizontal arc, and sliced clean through the archer's torso. Sparks flew, oil sprayed like black blood, and the robot fell in two pieces. The Hammer Bot
The giant raised the hammer and brought it down. I dashed backward using my jetpack just as the weapon slammed into the floor, sending a shockwave that cracked the arena tiles. The hammer was stuck in the floor for a brief second.
When my consciousness was transferred into the chrome chassis of a Sword-1 unit, I was given no time to adjust to my metallic limbs. There was only the roar of a thousand spectators and the looming shadow of the commentator ship above. This is the story of my struggle to survive the brutal gauntlet of . Chapter 1: The First Spark
By Wave 15, I didn't feel like a human anymore. I felt like a finely tuned instrument of death. I had acquired a bow, maximized my arrow deflection, and added a layer of heavy plating to my chassis. I needed it. The arena was now throwing MK-3 Swordsmen at me—heavy bots with armor that required multiple hits to break.