I Was Careless-I Didn’t Dodge

Botakun, or BON Tai-kun, was an ultra-compact AS developed based on the concept of an enhanced combat suit for the human body.

AS, short for Armored mobile master-Slave system, commonly known as ARM SLAVE, was a general term for the rather, well… unscientific humanoid robots Kraft had dreamed of.

From the fragments revealed in his dreams, Kraft had learned that there was a special kind of human in that world known as Listeners, who could inexplicably grasp black technologies beyond the scope of their own understanding.

Didn’t that sound a little like Kraft’s dreams?

Most of the manufacturing techniques for AS units, as well as the λ-DRIVER system installed on them that could convert a pilot’s mental energy into weapon energy, had been developed from black technologies the Listeners had "heard."

It was no less absurd than Kraft’s dreams.

Since Kraft had even built Botakun, ordinary AS units naturally posed no challenge for him. But Tony Stark used an exoskeleton armor, so Kraft could hardly bring out those large robots to bully him. Besides, Kraft had stuffed Botakun with technology from some of his other dreams, so even in a real fight, it would not fear those larger mechs.

Among inventions similar to exoskeleton armor, aside from Botakun, Kraft had only made one Ultraman Armor. But that thing would expose his physique, and it also demanded a great deal from the wearer’s body. In his dreams, those who wore that armor were either aliens or modified humans.

Although Kraft had no major problems controlling it with Angela and Haro’s assistance, reaching the level displayed in his dreams was still difficult. So until Kraft made up his mind to do something to his own body, even if he had built that armor, he would not be able to bring out much of its true strength.

Still, now that he thought about it, the Ultraman Armor’s appearance and design philosophy were actually quite similar to the suit Tony Stark was wearing. It had an LED light on the chest too, though the face design…

After examining Tony Stark’s mask from up close, Kraft blurted out.

"Benboerba?"

"FUMOFUMO?"

Kraft’s mutter, after being converted through Botakun, turned into that strange sound again.

There was nothing Kraft could do about such a bizarre setting. Just like the illogical divine technology in his dreams, no matter how much he tinkered with it, Botakun’s vocal device could only produce the sounds "FU" and "MO." And as soon as he turned off the voice converter, Botakun would crash.

Fortunately, Kraft had no desire to talk with Tony Stark anyway, so he did not care whether he could speak.

But even if Kraft did not care, Tony Stark certainly did.

"Wait! This weird thing is what you meant by a test? Are you serious?"

Kraft pulled out Botakun’s equipped Electric baton, took up a stance, and answered with his actions.

"Oh, come on! I don’t have time to play house with a child!"

But Tony Stark had no intention of taking the bait. He shook his head, inwardly somewhat angry as well. He felt that the inventor of Red Queen was playing him for a fool.

Seeing Tony Stark about to leave, Kraft decided to strike directly. He shouted a warning, then controlled Botakun to charge forward, swinging the Electric baton in his hand at Tony Stark’s head.

"FUMO!"

"Watch out, sir!"

With the speed Botakun burst forth with, Tony Stark had no time to react. So even though Jarvis warned him in time, Stark still could not block Kraft’s attack. He had only just raised his arm a little when the Electric baton had already smashed into his head.

"Bang—!"

With a crisp clash of metal, Tony Stark was sent flying by Kraft’s blow.

"FUMOFUMOFU!"

Kraft held up the Electric baton in one hand, pointing it at the flying Tony Stark, while making a throat-slitting taunt near his neck with the other.

"All right, looks like I underestimated you…"

Stark shook his slightly dizzy head and climbed up from the ground.

That strike had not caused Stark much damage. It was that "bang" that had left his head buzzing.

"Jarvis, remind me to optimize the Iron Man suit’s sound-filtering function when I get back."

"Yes, sir."

"Now then, let’s have some proper fun, kid!"

Stark raised his palm toward Kraft and said through gritted teeth.

"Don’t go crying to your mommy when you lose!"

"FUMOFUMOMO!"

Kraft gave Stark the middle finger, but Botakun only had a round, chubby palm with no fingers, so the gesture failed to convey his meaning.

Of course, with Tony Stark’s clever mind, it was easy for him to guess what Kraft had just meant.

"Jarvis, adjust output to fifteen percent… No, make it thirty percent. Children need to be properly taught a lesson."

Both Botakun’s appearance and those somewhat childish movements suggested that its pilot was not very old, so Stark did not intend to get too serious.

A flash of white light shone from Mark II’s palm, releasing an electric arc pulse toward Kraft.

Kraft reached behind himself and pulled a miniature riot shield from Botakun’s tactical vest. Then he used the enlarging light installed on Botakun to magnify it, setting it before himself to block Stark’s electric arc pulse.

"Hey! Where did he pull that shield out from?"

Blocked by Botakun’s chubby hands, Stark had not seen how the riot shield appeared. Even the cameras on the Iron Man suit had failed to capture the exact moment, though they had caught the process of it enlarging.

"The opponent seems to possess a means of enlarging and shrinking objects, sir."

"Enlarging and shrinking objects? I feel like I’ve heard of that technology somewhere…"

Stark froze for a moment. But before he could recall it, he saw that ridiculous-looking plush doll charge at him, club in one hand and shield in the other.

"What an impatient little kid."

Putting the matter aside for now, Stark controlled the Iron Man suit and flew into the air.

"Can you still hit me now?"

Stark had not seen any device resembling a thruster on that soft, floppy doll. If his opponent could not fly, then it could only be a target.

A trademark bad-uncle smile appeared on Tony Stark’s face.

Unfortunately, his smile had not lasted even two seconds before his expression froze. The laughable plush robot had risen lightly into the air without using any propulsion device at all.

"An anti-gravity device?!"

Too shocked, Tony Stark forgot to evade Kraft’s attack for a moment. By the time he heard Jarvis’s warning and tried to dodge, the Electric baton in Kraft’s hand had already smashed into Tony Stark’s head.

"Bang—"

Thanks to Emerging Springwater, Knight Kick Twisted His Ankle, Zero One, Huangfu Shingo, noixa, Li Di Huang, Guardian of the Beach, Reader 20180923165739615, and Hope x2 for their donations.

Special thanks to noixa for the huge donation. This was the first large donation I had received. If my saved chapters had not already been scheduled for release, I really would have wanted to add an extra chapter or something… Believe me! ●▽●

Perhaps because of production issues, or the difference between 3D and 2D, the animated version of Ultraman Armor just did not feel as good-looking as the manga version. The fight scenes were pretty good, though. The plot was so-so.

Also, regarding Iron Man’s faceplate, I actually thought it looked more like Voldemort. It also resembled Hassan’s mask in FATE.

By the way, I was notified last week that I would have a client-side recommendation this Monday, but I searched through my phone these past two days and could not find it anywhere… Did they forget me…?