Universal Power System

Similar to before, the faster but weaker robots were the first to reach Mako's group.

These robots were met with a set of four cadets each holding a different power shield essentially forming a wall of defense.

However, the robots didn't care as they rushed in to attack as they were programmed to do so.

As the robots sprinted forward and aimed to smash onto the cadets with their shields, the cadets crouched down and got close to the ground while holding the shields above their heads.

The robots smashed onto the shields with a strong force but it wasn't something that the cadets couldn't handle.

Once their shield had absorbed the blow, the cadets kicked themselves up from the ground using all their strength, in turn launching the robots into the air.

"Do it!" Mako shouted from behind.

As soon as he said that, four more cadets split into two teams and sprinted from either side of the four cadets holding the shields while the robots were still in the air.

Each of them, holding a different kind of bladed weapon, sprinted forward and landed a single decisive blow onto the robots who were defenseless in the air.

The cadets had a look of awe and happiness on their faces as they realized the effectiveness of the strategy that Mako had told them to implement during the time the other cadets were fighting the robots.

*************

[Moments Earlier]

"Listen, all of our strongest classmates have already run forward to fight. We will use them to our advantage. They will thin out the herd for us and all we have to do is to maintain our ground against the ones that remain." Mako explained.

"But if all those strong people can't defeat all those robots, how can we do it? We are less in numbers." A cadet questioned, still quizzical at the success probability of Mako's plan.

"We have something they don't," Mako responded," Teamwork!"

"We are going to fight together, not individually. If we pick our fights and fight together, supporting each other and watching over each other's backs, I believe that we can defeat them!" Mako explained.

"Break into teams of two. One of you will hold a shield while the other will hold a weapon they are comfortable with. Fight in turns... Let your shield worry about tanking the hit while you focus your strength and energy on landing a single powerful and decisive blow. Don't waste your energy on weak attacks!" Mako commanded.

*************

The next wave of robots quickly approached the group, ready to cause some damage.

"Split!" Mako shouted from behind.

The four cadets holding the shields quickly dispersed breaking the wall they had created and instead, they all went to their assigned partner's side becoming their shield.

Mako and Andrew alongside a few other cadets who were standing in the back finally began charging forward to fill the gap that was created by the shields; ready to meet the attack head-on.

*Clash!*

Mako, Andrew, and the other cadets purposefully attacked the main group of robots that were rushing toward them, leaving their sides completely open.

The stronger but slower robots saw this as an advantage and circled around to launch an attack from behind so that they could confuse the cadets and sandwich them in between them; leaving no room for escape.

However, things didn't turn out the way that the robots' pathfinding AI had determined as the cadets holding the shields alongside their partners were ready to meet the stronger robot's attack from either side.

The cadets held out their shields to block the initial strike; this one being a lot stronger than the regular robots from before, but since they all had strong physical bodies paired with High tier shields, they were able to withstand the force of the attack.

The attacking partners quickly took charge as just like before as soon as their shields had done their job and successfully defended against the attack, they charged their strength into a single powerful strike and launched a counter-attack at the powerful robots.

Since these robots were bulkier than the regular robots, they weren't defeated by a singular strike and were able to quickly regain their balance.

The robot's AI was already calculating countermeasures to break through the obstacle in front of them when all of a sudden, another powerful strike sent them tumbling over to the ground before it could properly recover.

This time the strike did not come from the main attacker, but rather from the side.

Looking over, it was a female cadet who was part of Mako's group that had landed the follow-up attack to finish off the bulkier robot.

While the shield and sword group defended Mako's group from the sides and bought them time, Mako's group quickly dealt with the weaker robots that were rushing them by fighting together and not wasting their energy in weak attacks and useless movements.

Once they had defeated all the robots, they quickly dispersed to help out the shield and swords group by bringing additional firepower to finally take down the bulkier robots.

Unlike the stronger cadets who had rushed forward individually without a plan or teammates to back them up and eventually lost due to being overwhelmed by the sheer amount of robots, Mako's brilliant strategy allowed even the weaker members of their class to shine as they had managed to successfully take down the main horde of robots that had been spawned in.

Mako stabbed the last robot using his sword and the group erupted in cheers as they were successfully able to defend against the horde of robots with not even a single one of them being defeated in the end.

However, their cheers were cut short by Mako's booming voice as he shouted at his classmates to get their attention.

"Wait! The fight's not over yet!" He shouted.

The cadets looked confused as to what Mako meant by this as there were no more robots that were rushing toward them.

"There are still robots who are chasing after the other cadets!" Mako shouted as he pointed at two cadets in the distance who were running for their lives with three robots in close pursuit.

The two cadets consisted of one boy and one girl and they both looked injured with blood and bruises on their body and their uniform torn slightly from a couple of places. They appeared to be exhausted and didn't have much energy to last for too long.

"Come on, we must help the rest of them and defeat all of the robots!" Mako commanded as he began to run over to the duo and help them out.

However, to his surprise, only a couple of cadets followed him while the rest remained in their place.

Mako turned around in confusion and anger as he observed the people who had just followed his every command; were now disobeying them completely.

"What's wrong?! Can't you see they need our help!" Mako shouted in an annoyed tone.

"So what!? They were the ones who were too chicken to stay and fight, it's not my fault that they decided to run and become an easy target for the robots. Why should I help them?" A boy replied.

He had a decent physique with barely defined muscles. His blond hair was slicked back with way too much hair gel that it was reflective and his cold blue eyes reflected his ice-cold heart.

He was part of Mako's group when they were fighting against the horde of robots and was a decently skilled fighter.

A couple of other students who had the same mentality as this boy shook their heads in agreeance with what he was saying.

Mako was left dumbfounded and in such shock by the behavior of the people that he had just fought with shoulder-to-

shoulder that he couldn't utter a single word.

However, not all were as egotistical and self-centered as the blond-haired cadet as a girl who was also part of Mako's group spoke up.

"It doesn't matter whether they ran or not, they are also our classmates, and we should help them out." She spoke with a gentle and kind voice that was filled with confidence.

The girl had fair skin and light brown hair with a short height.

Mako hadn't really paid any attention to his classmates at this point, but as soon as he saw the girl speak with compassion for the safety of her classmates, Mako began to see the image of Iris within the girl in front of him.

"Iris?" Mako asked gently under his breath such that no one heard him.

The same kind and gentle voice and the compassion to always help and protect others. This was the trait that Iris possessed and was the thing that allowed them to become such good friends in such a short period of time.

Mako's eyes slowly began to tear after observing the girl, but before it could become noticeable, he was brought back to reality with Andrew tugging on his shoulder, reminding him that there wasn't much time to spare.

Mako quickly suppressed his emotions and returned to the present as he stopped the girl from wasting any more of her breath and addressed the whole group completely.

"I don't care what ideals you have! My motto is to help any and everybody who is in need of my help and I am going to do just that. Those of you who want to join me can do so while the rest of you can just sit here and look pretty!" Mako said before turning around and running over to the duo with Andrew closely behind him.

The girl alongside a handful of other cadets also began running behind Mako shortly after leaving behind an almost equal-sized group that remained with the blond-haired cadet.