The Mech Touch

The third test initiated by Ves gradually turned into a bloodbath.

About one in every thirty challengers suffered severe wounds ranging from deep stabs to outright limb amputations!

Despite the growing number of 'mistakes' made by Ketis, she gleefully maintained her smile while looking forward to clash against the next challenger!

It became increasingly harder for the candidates to muster up their courage and grab the floating sword. While the rate of suffering grievous injuries was rather small, anyone who got hit by the sharp side of the greatsword instead of the flat side suffered unimaginable pain!

The floor around Ketis quickly began to resemble an abattoir with the growing amount of blood pooling below her feat. It got to the point where the mech designers had to watch their step lest they tripped!

It became worse for them as time went by. Ketis continually grew more formidable in their eyes. Her bloody existence even started to cast a shadow onto their hearts!

A growing number of mech designers decided they wanted nothing to do with this extremely dangerous test. Three-hundred of them had already stepped back from the ghastly sight. They would rather take their chances with Gloriana's remaining test! Even if that didn't work out, they wouldn't be particularly sad at the prospect of returning home empty-handed.

Working under someone as sadistic and bloodthirsty as Ves was a curse rather than a blessing!

"Next!"

Ketis had already chopped up a woman who clumsily overextended herself in a feeble attempt to escape severe injury.

The man who followed suit felt a bit more confident about his attempt. So far, Ketis never subsequently chopped off the limbs of the challenger who came after her previous victim!

He happened to be one of the mech designers with a cranial implant. He keenly observed Ketis' body language and microexpressions. He also performed a very thorough statistical analysis on the injuries suffered by the challengers who came before. With a sample size of over 200, the man was 86 percent confident that Ketis would not leave him with more than a bruise!

When his hands grasped the handle of the floating sword, he sprinted forward with confidence. He uttered a guttural cry as he launched a simple chop!

He had already analyzed the previous attack patterns and concluded that Ketis was far too strong, fast and skilled. There was no way to defeat her by resorting to trickery, finesse and technique unless he was a formidable swordsman himself!

Since defeating Ketis was out of the question, he simply decided to launch a straightforward attack with only a portion of his momentum. Too little force wouldn't impress anyone, while too much force made it too easy for him to lose his balance.

As his sword steadily chopped down, Ketis moved faster than he ever thought possible!

In one instance, his sword clanged against the flat of the greatsword.

In the next, he suddenly lost all feeling in his hand, before realizing to his horror that his wrist was transmitting an unimaginable amount of pain!

"Aaahh!"

Ketis apathetically shrugged and didn't bother to voice an excuse this time. "You think too much."

Standing at the side, Ves nodded his head in agreement.

This test was not about outsmarting Ketis!

When Ves approached her to administer this test, he specifically stated that he wanted to see blood.

"How often?" She asked.

"As much or as little as you want. You can decide for yourself who you want to chop." He responded. "Though do keep enough of them intact. Gloriana needs enough bodies to make her choice as well, so do try to keep the casualty rate reasonable. The goal is to make it clear that there are real consequences to holding a weapon."

"I'm not complaining, what is the point of this, Ves?" She scratched her head.

"If these mech designers are about to work for me, I want them to be able to keep their cool during a possible combat situation. I have witnessed plenty of cowardly mech designers in the past. To be honest, they disgust me. While I don't expect my new employees to be as fearless as you, at the very least they shouldn't lose their marbles if they are ever shot at! I have no time to coddle mech designers who faint at the sight of blood."

While Ves didn't plan to drive them into the middle of an active battlefield or anything, he wanted his subordinates to keep functioning in case a crisis occurred!

It was much easier for him to increase an assistant's talent or knowledge. It was much harder to boost some of their other traits!

The goal of this selection was to distinguish the candidates who possessed the rare qualities he sought!

As the challengers slowly moved forward as if they were about to face their executions, Ves inwardly shook his head.

The mech designers all let their nerves get the better of them. In fact, it got so bad that he seriously started to doubt whether he could meet his quota today!

He had witnessed too many mech designers who lost heart before they even grasped the floating sword!

Some battles were unwinnable. In his short but eventful career, Ves had experienced several setbacks, tragedies, and defeats. What stood out to him was how people behaved during an impending catastrophe.

Would they break down and cry?

Would they raise their hands and offer their surrender?

Would they run and flee as fast as possible?

None of these responses satisfied him. While they were excusable reactions for typical mech designers and other noncombatants, Ves wasn't looking to hire typical mech designers!

He couldn't help but recall two memorable incidents where Ves witnessed awful defeats.

In one instance during the journey through the frontier, the Flagrant Swordmaiden fleet stumbled upon the survivors of Chopra Interstellar Services in space.

One of them happened to be a mech designer by the name of Eric Kichiro, who uttered a phrase that Ves never forgot.

"Cowardice is a virtue!"

Just recalling those words made unsettled Ves considerably! His mood sunk even further after learning what Eric had done.

When the Chopran fleet clashed against a pirate group called the NIN, Eric didn't stay put at his assigned station on a ship. Instead, as the Choprans suffered a sudden setback, Eric quickly abandoned his post and ran straight towards the escape pods and launched without asking for permission!

His premature escape inadvertently sparked a panic. Many of his fellow comrades saw his escape pod flying away, thereby sparking a panic throughout the Chopran fleet! Their morale took a considerable hit, causing several more people to lose their nerves as well and flee their ships!

This sparked a vicious cycle where more and more Choprans thought that the battle was lost despite the fact that their mechs could still turn the battle around!

In the end, the Chopran fleet was defeated. Perhaps the outcome was already set, but there was always a chance they could have won if they had only persisted to the end! Yet due to the cowardly actions of a single mech designer, the window of opportunity had closed too quickly.

"At least he suffered the fate he deserved." Ves whispered.

Another incident that also shaped his views was the total defeat suffered by the Flagrant Vandals and Lydia's Swordmaidens on the surface of Aeon Corona VII.

With the Starlight Megalodon within reach, the Vesians finally forced them into a decisive battle.

Ordinarily, the Flagrant Swordmaidens could have defeated the Hostland Warriors and Meandering Monkeys in open battle.

It was too bad the Vesians cheated by fielding an expert pilot with one of the strongest expert mechs that Ves had ever witnessed at the time! The Belisarius piloted by the prodigal Venerable Foster made mince meat out of the Vandals and Swordmaidens!

No matter how hard the Belisarius got hit, its armor remained impervious due to the sinfully huge amount of Rorach's bone incorporated into its design!

Though the expert mech appeared utterly invincible and inviolable, the Vandals and Swordmaidens never stepped back.

They didn't run. They didn't scatter. There was no point to it in the harsh conditions of the planet.

Instead, the mech pilots valiantly fought to the end, hitting as many Vesians as possible in order to buy time for Ves and other scattered comrades to escape to the Starlight Megalodon!

Commander Lydia, the founder of the Swordmaidens, sacrificed her life in that battle. A large number of elites who formed the pillar of the sisterhood bravely followed her into death.

Ves respected the Swordmaidens ever since that tragic loss. No matter how uncouth, how unfriendly and how Hexer-like they seemed, he would always value the precious opportunities the Swordmaidens had bought with their lives!

Their brave performance at the Battle of Kesseling VIII only raised his esteem for them even further!

This made it all the more sad that none of the candidates displayed an inkling of the valor shown by the Swordmaidens.

While he didn't expect them to match the standard of an elite soldier, at the very least they should exhibit some spirit!

Fortunately, at least a handful of them showed something special.

When Ketis whimsically decided to chop a leg off a woman who tried to perform a sloppy slash, the victim didn't cry out as much as the others!

Even though the stump of her leg was spurting out a copious amount of blood, the woman still managed to maintain a fierce face while doing her best to hold back her screams!

Ves stared closely at her defiant eyes. Though she suffered an abject defeat and an injury that was severe enough to release the contents of her bladder, she still attempted to reach out to the handle of the sword she released!

"You pass." He announced, surprising every remaining mech designer!

This was the first time he approved a mech designer who lost a limb!

"Miss Rina Orion, correct?" He read out the name supplied by his implant. "You don't have to join the rest of your new colleagues. You'll be taken to our medical facility where your wounds will be attended to first. Are you still willing to join the LMC and the Larkinson Clan?"

"I.. I do.." She uttered between her gasps of pain. "I won't let anyone take this opportunity away from me. I will suffer this pain a hundred times if that is what it takes to gain your approval!"

"That's not necessary." Ves quickly spoke before the medic bots finally sedated her and moved her away.

A brave-looking man quickly stepped up after that. He grabbed hold of the floating sword with confidence and immediately charged towards Ketis with an overhand strike!

Different from anyone else, the man didn't attempt to defend himself or try to mitigate any possible blows. In fact, he continued to throw his body forward, causing Ketis to use considerably more force than she intended as she cut off half of the man's upper limbs.

Though the man quickly fell as copious amounts of blood poured out of the wounds, he tried his best to put up a brave face and tried his best to look defiant!

"Medics!" Ves simply shouted. "Take him away. Next!"

"Ahh.. what? I.. I'm not done yet! I can still fight!"

Ves shook his head at the man whose clothes had turned into a mess due to all of the blood soaking through it. "Don't pretend. This isn't an acting test."

That quickly doused the enthusiasm of the rest of the mech designers.

Though the available slots gradually diminished, it became harder and harder for the remaining challengers to step forward. Over five-hundred mech designers had already given up on challenging Ketis and her lethally-sharp greatsword!

It had become so bad that Ves estimated that he would likely run out of challengers before he reached his quota!

It took a lot more courage to confront Ketis later on after she cut through dozens of random mech designers!

The complete uncertainty of whether they would lose their limbs or not froze them into place. None of them wanted to get disabled at this point and miss the last test administered by Gloriana!

With the available bodies quickly running out, Ves finally sighed and decided to loosen his standards. Anyone who stepped up and grabbed hold of the floating sword at this point should already possess a sufficient amount of courage.

"Pass!"

"Pass!"

"Pass!"

When the success rate abruptly increased, the remaining daredevils among the crowd finally showed some enthusiasm and fought over the next turns!

"You pass!"

"Pass!"

"Pass! That's it! This test is finally over!" Ves announced, causing almost everyone else to exhibit a considerable amount of relief. "Now, let's clean this mess up before commencing the final test of the day."

After a lot of bots cleaned up the copious amount of blood and freshened up the air, Gloriana reluctantly stepped up. "Ahem. My final challenge is a lot more civilized than the last one. I won't demand any of your limbs to be chopped."

No one laughed.