Mia's eyes darted to Aidan's Blade-Roller.

"But I can't distinguish the robots. In the heat of the battle, the identical Blade-Roller will hinder me more than assist me. I'll take the bet with just my two drones."

Flora looked at Aidan as well. 'The girl is smart. Of course, I wouldn't turn on her, but setting the bet up in a way she doesn't have to fear backstabbing is wise.' Because of this thought, Flora refrained from suggesting alternative solutions like coloring the robot to keep Aidan in the fight.

"Okay." She added to Aidan. "I'm sorry to have you sidelined, dear, but I already promised Aitoshuri a reward for the fight. Just concentrate on taking notes of Aito's maneuvers. You might learn a thing or two. Aito, I'm giving you free rein. Use the same mental pings as Aidan to request spells."

"I'll do the commentating!" Eddie volunteered with a microphone in his hand. For a moment, Flora was baffled, but she shrugged it off. Her inventory contained a flamethrower and at least two toasters. Who was she to judge what other people choose to carry around?

"Ladies and Gentle-elementals!" Eddie nodded to the one fire elemental and two earth elementals who were their only audience. "May I introduce to you in the north corner, the miraculous MiaMyMio, a veteran of many battles, driving the Spinner and the Spiky2050. And in the south corner, the fabulous Flora, a veteran of many toasts, represented by Aitoshuri driving the Blade-Roller-Extreme, which is to my absolute astonishment, not a toaster!"

Flora clapped politely and commanded the hand-less elementals to bounce. Mia joined in, with the clapping and not the bouncing, of course.

"May the better pilot win! Fight!"

The two drones and one robot raced towards each other in a straight line. From the Blade-Roller's perspective, the Spinner was on the right and Spiky on the left.

Flora expected Aito to bounce on top of one of the drones like Aidan did. Indeed, she did jump but not towards her opponents but passing Spiky to its left.

At the same moment, the drone activated its pickax.

The flight path of the blade-roller intersected with the shaft of the ax and left a deep gash.

"First blood goes to Aito in the Blade-Roller! But the Spinner is hot on her wheels!"

The more cumbersome Spiky needed longer to curve around, but the nimble Spinner reversed gears and followed Aito backward.

The Blade-Roller turned toward it and was going cut into its unprotected back. But in the last moment, Mia hit the breaks hard, and the Spinner reared up, meeting one of the saw-blades with its own. Sparks flew, and the screeching sounds of metal on metal filled the arena.

"Mia's marvelous maneuver managed to destroy one of the appendages of the Blade-Roller, but her Spinner suffered some tears as well."

Flora looked at the missing disc with concern. "Should I heal you, sweetie?"

"Beep Beep." Aito refused the offer but gave her the signal for another skill.

!

The Blade-Roller sped towards the Spiky2050. Flora wasn't sure, but the shaft from its pickax looked mostly repaired though she could still see some scratches.

Passing it a few times, Aito added more damage to the shaft.

Eventually, the ping for healing the blade-roller reached Flora.

The two drones ganged up on Aito while she darted between them. Sparks flew again.

Flora could no longer remain seated. She jumped up, splashing water on the protesting fire elemental and started cheering for Aito while still channeling the spell.

"The fight is getting heated, Lady and Gentle-Elementals. One-third of you might appreciate it."

The fire elemental bounced in agreement without Flora's encouragement.

The drones and the robot separated in the arena. Thanks to Flora's healing, the Blade-Roller was still in good shape. To her glee, the Spinner looked worse for wear and was even wobbling.

Aito pressed her advantage and ordered Overcharge Normal Mode and Human-Machine Connection. She made some valid attempts bouncing on the Spinner, but Spiky did a good job of protecting it. It even landed a solid hit on Aito, which forced her to disengage for another round of healing.

This time the two drones pursued her. The Spinner was glowing green as well, which indicated Mia was healing it. When it was repaired enough to roll unimpeded, the Spinner and Spiky glowed in a bold red.

Flora had not seen this color before and gripped the rail of the jacuzzi.

The two drones surrounded the Blade Roller and created a red haze between them, engulfing Aito. The little robot was visibly slowed and struggled to operate its blades.

"Aito!" Flora exclaimed, and a calm ping came back.

!

Even with the spell, Flora saw no difference.

"The Blade-Roller is in danger! It is caught in the attacking formation of the drones." Eddie narrated. "This command is part of the Drone Conductor outfit, which is an advanced class to Drone Driver. MiaMyMio finally shows off her skills."

Eddie's commentating impressed Flora. It appeared he did his research, at least better than her.

"Put looking up the drone driver and drone conductor class on my to-do list. Prio A. Remind me when I go to bed tonight."

Just when the drones reached the Blade-Roller, the pickax swung down on it. Flora already saw the Blade-Roller in pieces in her mind's eye, but suddenly Aitoshuri picked up speed and jumped on the Spinner, tearing another gash in its casing.

Eddie and Flora laughed.

"Aitoshuri pretended to be helpless, but the little robot fooled us all."

Flora sneaked a glance at Mia. The girl's posture was still relaxed; only her eyes revealed her focus on the fight while her hands moved rapidly between the controllers. This composure raised Flora's admiration for the girl. Now, Mia looked a far cry from her usual inconspicuous self, more like a conductor of a concert, controlling her subjects with her hands and force of will.

While Spiky retracted the ax, Aito did a dancing number on the Spinner.

!

Its Blades started to glow, and five of them came down in a Blade-Storm, shredding the Spinner to pieces.

"The Spinner is finished! Can the Spiky2050 avenge it?"

Finally, the remaining drone had freed its ax. Aito wasn't daunted by it and attacked its flank.

Meanwhile, Flora watched her pool values. Her health still looked okay, and she had more than half of her mana. Therefore she started to channel Human-Machine Connection again. Flora had a good impression of the spell. Sure, it was costly with one mana per 2 seconds, but it had no cooldown. You could cast it while you had nothing to do when the CD of other spells ticked down.

"Can you explain Human-Machine Connection in greater detail, Aidan?"

"The operative value of the spell, at the moment 27, is the percentage of your Attribute's operative value that gets added to the robot. Let's look at strength, for example. The Blade-Roller has a Physical Power of 10 OV, and you have a Physical Power of 26 OV. The OV of the spell means 27 percent of it = seven gets added to the blade-roller. That results in a Physical Power of 17 OV."

The Blade-Roller jumped over the Spiky2050, hitting its pickax again. This time the drone had some kind of armor coating, which lessened the impact of the saw.

Flora hadn't noticed the change in the armor before and vowed to keep her head in the game.

With screeching wheels, the drone slid around and smashed its ax down. But Aito hopped to the side, evading the strike and then backward, sawing a tear in the casing of the Spiky or at least in its armor.

Abruptly, the drone reversed gears and activated the pickax again. This time it hit close to the center of the robot, breaking several discs.

"Beep!"

!

"Now the Blade-Roller is in dire wires! Can it prevail against the heavily armored Spiky?"

Aito rolled the robot over, putting the damaged discs on top.

"Smart move from Aitoshuri. She still has her full mobility, but her attacking is severely limited. Can she outmaneuver the drone until her robot is repaired?"

Aito didn't flee but danced around the more cumbersome Spiky. Flora nodded appreciatively.

All of a sudden, the pickax started to glow, and concurrently, Aito pinged at Flora.

Only a second passed until Flora had stopped channeling and adjusted her mind to cast the requested spell.

That delay cost the Blade-Roller. The Spiky2050 picked up momentum. Its pickax moved like owned by a dwarf who made a bet with an elf about his mining speed.

The first swing hit Aito, and it destroyed another part of her movement apparatus.

Immediately after giving the command, Flora switched back to healing the robot.

With a big jump to the side, Aito forced the wildly smashing drone to reverse gears and turn.

Flora glanced at the Blade-Roller's stats. It had only 17 HP left. That wasn't much against a player, but a drone only did around ten damage usually, but the last hit of the pickax in overcharge mode amounted to a loss of 18 HP. Flora tried to think positive and estimated the robot could survive at least one more glancing blow.

Like a rabid woodpecker, the Spiky perforated the floor of the arena. Naturally, it aimed at the Blade-Roller, but Aito hopped in triangles around him.

"I want to hire the Spiky for raking my veggie patches! Flora dear, you could have saved gardening effort by not building an arena floor."

Nodding, Flora confirmed Eddie's point, but her eyes didn't leave the action, while her concentration focused on repairing the robot.

Slowly the discs regenerated, and the Blade-Roller regained his superior agility.

Meanwhile, the armor coating buff had run out, and this time, Flora spotted it, and her German berserk impulses resurged.

"Blitzkrieg!" She howled, splashing water again at the poor fire elemental. Even Eddie and the picnic table got hit by a splosh.

After getting chastised by Eddie for watering down his prepared salads, Flora sobered up.

"Just a suggestion, dear! Do what you want!" She amended.

"Beep!"

!

!

Although the Blade-Runner had only half of its health, it started to attack.

"Hole Punch Woodpecker against Chainsaw Squid! Ladies and Gentle-elementals, this fight could decide who wins the war!"

The railing of the jacuzzi creaked, suffering under Flora's desperate grip.

"You got this," Flora whispered mentally to Aitoshuri and maybe to herself.

The squeaking of mechanical appendages filled the roof garden. In the waning sunlight, the glow of the buffed opponents gave off a heroic appearance. The dusk transformed the two remote-controlled toys into predators.

Again, Aitoshuri assaulted the flank of the Spiky2050, sawing deep into its hull.

Suddenly, the Spiky accelerated, and the stuck Blade-Roller was carried along for the ride.

Shortly before ramming the barrier of the arena, the Spiky turned, smashing the robot into the wall.

"Wow! With only one move, Mia destroyed half of the blades of her opponent! Although the Blade-Runner is still attached to her drone, it suffered massive damage."

Aitoshuri still clung to the drone and sawed away while the rear of the robot got dragged along the barrier.

Sparks showered the arena, and screaching pierced the ears of the players.

At last, the Spiky came to a halt with smoke billowing from its opened casing.

In victory, Aitoshuri raised the six appendages, which remained functional to the end.

"Congratulations, you won." Mia put the remote down.

"Congratulations to Aitoshuri and Flowing Flowers, the winner of the first roof garden robot cup! Congratulations to MiaMyMio for a courageous battle and the second place! Congratulations to Shiny Frenemy for conjuring the most delicious barbecue this place has ever seen even though everybody ignores it!"

"Who dares? Let's eat," said Flora after thanking Mia and Eddie.

Indeed, Eddie had gone all out. Grilled vegetables, fresh salads, tuna steaks, and roasted tentacles were on the menu. Flora loved tuna but hadn't eaten it for years because the fish were almost extinct, and she couldn't burden her conscience.

The most prominent dish of the buffet was a big white bowl filled with clams and prawns in a celery pepper mash. Only after Eddie revealed it, Flora recognized the container as the head of a squid. Eddie had processed the whole calamari: apart from the bowl-head, he cut the thickest part of the tentacles in steaks and marinated the tips in garlic before barbecuing them.

"Divine, Eddie. If it tastes half as good as it looks, we are in for a treat."

They sat together around a picnic table, and Flora helped herself acquiring her favorite delicacies. Eddie filled a plate and then asked the wide-eyed Mia if she wanted to choose herself or if he should provide a special selection for her.

Mia still seemed to be composed, but Eddie's high EQ sensed discomfort within her. Overfishing had emptied the oceans, and seafood was too expensive in the southern German regions for everybody to enjoy.

When she nodded, Eddie served his custom selection while chatting about the food.

Flora's ration of what amount of small talk she could suffer in a day was long depleted.

"So, what can you tell me about Tigressa Flameante?"