Humanity's Greatest Mecha Warrior System

Max adjusted the position of the troops in the region between the Great Enemy and Myceloids, pulling them all back so that they would be either off course or blocked by terrain features from the Myceloid armies, in an attempt to naturally funnel as much as possible of the green tide toward the enemy base.

As hoped, they were following, chasing after the Mecha in a running battle that was drawing their reinforcements toward the Cathedral Ships in their castle.

This part of the process was the most important. He had to keep them interested so that they didn't go looking for other fights in an entirely different direction.

Fifteen of their fifty groups were engaged in the process, pulling back and engaging the Myceloids, while another ten were moved to keep the Great Enemy from realizing that they were the target of these fights.

Max shifted them forward, as if they were intended to support the ongoing battle, but what they were actually doing was preventing the Energy Being from approaching from behind.

That was the signal for the troops that were clearing the path along the mountains to move forward and begin the offensive against the Great Enemy.

Three of the modified Emperor Class Mecha were deployed to the region, spread out to create a mobile firing line two hundred kilometres wide, supported by fast attack units as they stomped across the continent.

It was beautiful. Everything that the enemy could muster was moved into position to attempt to stop them from clearing an entire swathe through the battlefield, and that nearly cleared the path for the retreating force to back up and split in preparation to encircle the base.

"Admiral. The enemy Commander is making a move." Sylvie informed Max suddenly with a ping on the map that showed an immensely powerful force moving out to break the advancing force.

"Oh, that is even better than I could have hoped. Is Nico already in the mountains?" Max asked.

"Yes, Admiral. She is in position."

Max smiled. "Alright, I will go forward to deal with the enemy Commander, you and Felicity will be responsible for base defence while I am away. Keep to the basic plan as well as you can."

The Mecha had a portal function equipped, and the enemy Commander had transported himself the same way, moving directly into combat with one of the Emperor Class Mecha that was bombarding the Great Enemy forces.

The air shimmered as Max moved into combat, appearing fifty metres behind the enemy Commander, almost within arms reach. So close that the first burst from his Disintegrator caught the creature completely off guard.

[YOU!] It mentally roared in rage, and turned to engage Max, forgetting about its wounded quarry.

Without Max's advantages, the modified Mecha couldn't do serious damage to an Energy Being on its level, and it had engaged with that knowledge in mind. But now that Max was here, he had energy to spare, and he could use it to enhance the Mass Driver rounds of the other Mecha as well as his own.

Four Gatling arrays unleashed a hail of Mass Driver rounds at close range, and wounds appeared all over the enemy Commander's body, leaking dense black energy.

A furious lash of energy shattered the Void Shields on the other Mecha and threw it to the ground, but the ablative armour held, and it was only minimally damaged. Max ordered it to stay down for a few seconds while its shield capacitors came back online, and hacked at the enemy Commander with his blade.

It formed a blade of its own energy to counter his, creating a shower of sparks as the two energy fields collided. Max forced the blade up and rotated underneath, swinging low at the enemy's back, but an Energy Being wasn't a conventional enemy, and it simply reshaped itself to have the protected blade facing him again.

The two stayed locked in combat for a split second, before Max's Mass Drivers could adjust their aim and force the enemy back with their impact.

It had learned from the previous battle that Max had with one of its kin, and didn't try to go incorporeal to avoid the shots. That would only lead to its power being pilfered by this mutated human, and it needed all it could get with the Myceloid God interfering in their battle.

As the two Commanders duelled, the immense power exerted was drawing the Myceloids forward, right at the Cathedral Ships clustered in their base. It might not have been how Max planned for the battle to go, but it really looked like it was working out the way that he wanted.

[Did you think that you could get distracted while fighting me?] The Great Enemy's Commander demanded as its blade sliced through Max's shielding.

"Yes. Did you think that you could hold my full and undivided attention? I've been commanding the planetary battle this whole time." Max replied.

That was actually Felicity and Sylvie, but the response enraged the creature, and its attacks became frantic as it realized that it was being played as a fool.

A sudden burst of Disintegrator energy came from behind as a unit of Mecha reached their location and joined the battle with the slowly recovering Emperor Class unit.

Now that it was outnumbered over fifty to one, there was no chance of winning. The Commander knew from the start that Max wouldn't fight a fair fight, much less a duel, under these circumstances, so it did the only thing that it could.

It fled.

"Good work everyone, push forward into formation with the others and do your best to take the base. If we can capture it and control the portal, we will eliminate the enemy reinforcements." Max ordered the Androids.

[Understood Commander.]

That was good enough for Max, and he returned to the base to await news of another incident that would require his attention. The battle might be moving in the correct direction, but that didn't mean that the plan was actually working. That couldn't be answered until the battle against the base actually began.