The Mech Touch

The dark sphere that enveloped the space around Ulimo Citadel tried its best to snuff out all of the light inside its turbulent depths.

Though the energy needed to sustain it was incredible, half an hour had passed without any signs the anomaly was receding!

Through harvesting the lives of tens of thousands of Nyxian residents and pirates, the dark ritual that sustained this deadly phenomenon would continue to kill off the trapped Larkinsons until there was no one left!

With the Golden Cat constantly sensing the fall of another Larkinson mech pilot, her brightness dimmed. The Larkinson Clan continually weakened with the ongoing loss of its valiant and courageous warriors.

How could Ves ever let Goldie feel sad?

It was easier than he thought to channel Lufa's glow. Though he found it rather absurd that the Sanctuary Project hadn't even reached completion, that did not stop him from taking advantage of his latest spiritual product.

Though their compatibility was high, the glow of exuding from his body only stretched so far. Instructing Lufa to pump more power in its outward expression only modesty extended the range.

How could he magnify the range?

What could he do to make Lufa's glow expansive enough to generate an actual safe zone around the Scarlet Rose?

"Perhaps supplying more energy will work."

Normally, feeding an excess amount of his spiritual energy to his design spirits was problematic. The incompatibility between their respective spiritual attributes produced varying amounts of rejection.

Earlier, Ves already experienced some difficulties in his attempt to amplify Goldie's spiritual transmissions.

The circ.u.mstances were different this time. Ves brought Lufa into his mind. By donning the design spirit as a mask, if only a little bit, the two had partially melded together.

This modest integration caused Ves to develop a bold theory.

Would it be possible to feed his spiritual energy to Lufa in this state?

He decided to try it out. He placed his hand on the P-stone held by Nitaa and began to draw upon the energy reserves stored inside.

Ves channeled the energy through his mind and into the spirit that had temporarily become a part of him. Though a bit of loss and inefficiency still remained, the problem was much less impactful than before!

"It's working!" His eyes lit up!

The potential of this technique extended far beyond this crisis! Though Ves already channeled his design spirits in previous occasions, most notably with Ylvaine's spiritual fragment and the Golden Cat, this was the first time he employed it for a greater purpose than hoodwinking his audience.

Perhaps it might be possible for Ves to perform every ability of his design spirits!

If not for the fact that Qilanxo wasn't one of his creations, he might have tried to see if he could channel her powerful space barrier.

Just the thought of accomplishing this feat significantly increased his sense of security! It would be as if he carried a shield generator that could never be removed from his person!

He shook his head. "This is not the time to get caught up in wild ideas."

With his conscious effort and Lufa's invaluable assistance, the glow surrounding not only grew stronger, but extended far beyond the ship!

Amazingly enough, the glow even managed to form a concave cavity from the edge of the dark sphere!

Though Ves mentally winced at the rate of energy he was extending, this wasn't the time to hoard his reserves.

"Proceed forward! My glow will protect us! I can't keep this up forever, so don't take it slow!"

While a number of clansmen were reluctant to obey, they nevertheless executed his command.

Soon enough, the ship flew forward together with its escort. The vessel continually accelerated, cautiously at first, but more confidently once everyone discovered that the darkness failed to approach further than a couple of hundreds of meters away!

Strange grey flickers collided against the edge of the void, only to disappear right away.

"Where to, patriarch?"

"Fly to the last-known coordinates of the Living Sentinels. Their distress is probably the most acute." Ves answered with a strained expression.

Goldie already conveyed to him that the bulk of the deaths came from the Sentinels. Though some Avatars and other elite mech pilots began to fall as well, their casualty rates remained relatively low, which signified that they were able to hang on for the moment.

Time passed until they stumbled upon the first sign of wreckage.

Ves recognized the remains of a commercial cannoneer mech. Only parts of it remained as weak but numerous weapon impacts shattered the mech to pieces.

The c.o.c.kpit had been breached as well.

"Dead. Let us move on. We will bring the remains home after this crisis has passed."

The rescuers encountered several other clouds of wreckage before they finally encountered their first intact mech!

"Patriarch! You're here!" A relieved mech pilot called as his banged-up light skirmisher was just reaching the limits of its energy reserve. "What is this glow? Those grey ghosts aren't haunting me anymore! It's a miracle!"

Ves ignored the mech pilot's gratitude. "Take the mech pilot from his mech and bring him back to the ship. His machine isn't important right now, so just leave it. We'll retrieve it later."

It was too much of a burden to bring back the mechs trapped in the anomaly. As long as Ves rescued the mech pilots themselves, he could always provide them with other mechs.

The Scarlet Rose flew on, encountering much more wreckage than Ves expected. It became clear that the Living Sentinels suffered heavily as they encountered more broken than functional mechs!

While Ves and his ship steadily drove back some of the darkness and offered sanctuary to those who needed it most, other parts of the dark sphere began to make room for hope as well!

Each of the expert candidates found their own way to overcome the darkness around them. Filled with the need to overcome their isolation and come to the aid of their comrades, their willpower shone brighter than ever!

The most dramatic result came from Jannzi Larkinson! With her Shield of Samar as the center, she infused her willpower in the mech that she had developed a partnership with. Though it took some time, her mech ultimately worked together with her to manifest some of her will in a radius around her mech!

Certain limits within her mind had loosened as she tried her best to maintain this invisible, intangible protective field by herself. She clenched her teeth and propelled her slow mech forward.

The isolating darkness that prevented her mech from approaching other mechs parted silently at the passing of her mech. Before she knew it, she succeeded in crossing over to the shadowy cell of one of her subordinate Shieldbearers!

"Thank you!"

"This isn't the time to talk. Fly close to me and help me drive back the ghost mechs!"

"Yes, ma'am!"

Though the grey mechs weren't able to fly past the barrier that Jannzi erected, they were still able to damage it with their attacks!

Fortunately, as Jannzi began to pick up more Shieldbearers and Avatars, the mechs she offered protection paid back her efforts by killing the grey mechs on her behalf!

As her 'army' of rescued mechs grew, she failed to notice that she had entered an elevated state of mind.

Her attention wasn't entirely focused on the present anymore. She piloted her mech forward on instinct and on autopilot as she began to contemplate the growing responsibility she held towards the mechs and mech pilots that sheltered in her field.

She didn't notice how much energy she expended to keep up her barrier. Her willpower could only sustain such a large protective field for so long. It was impossible for her to last this long on her own merits!

Not just the duration of her protective umbrella appeared suspect, but the scope of her field was also astounding.

Her protective field slowly covered more space. As the mechs she rescued rose in number, her field never ran out of space.

Before she knew it, over a hundred functional mechs crammed in her field!

The rescued mech pilots all regarded Jannzi and her Shield of Samar with amazement. Their best efforts only allowed them to fend off the grey mechs. None of them were able to project a field that could forcefully push back the darkness that threatened to lock them up until the grey mechs tired out their machines!

The other expert candidates weren't able to match Jannzi's efficiency. However, they found their own ways to offer relief to their fellow comrades.

"CUT!"

Commander Dise's swordsman mech chopped its weapon against the darkness, opening up a wide scar that failed to heal right away!

"Go through!" She commanded.

Her mech alongside twenty other Swordmaiden mechs quickly drilled through the hole. Once the last mech passed through, whatever force prevented the cut from healing dropped, causing the darkness to repair its wound.

"CUT!"

It didn't matter as Dise cut another hole that led to another trapped mech! Through cutting any barrier in her way, she soon managed to rescue every Swordmaiden mech in the field, though it wasn't as if they needed it in the first place.

The grey ghosts failed to break one of their ranks!

Commander Dise observed her reformed Swordmaidens mechs with pride. However, she knew that her job wasn't done. She wasn't solely a Swordmaiden anymore. She was also a Larkinson!

"Let's cut through this void and rescue the other Larkinsons!"

"Yes, commander!"

In another part of the sphere, Commander Orfan pierced through the darkness in a similar manner. Though the holes she generated closed much faster than usual, she simply attacked repeatedly, sustaining the vulnerability long enough to let every rescued Vandal mech through!

"Come on, hurry up! Our light mechs are expending too much energy now!"

Elsewhere, Joshua's Quint charged forward with great momentum. With his lance pointed forward, the masterwork mech punched through shadow after shadow, blasting open wide holes that reformed slowly enough for the trapped Bright Companion and Avatar mechs to fly towards their nearest comrades.

Though Joshua wasn't able to gather a huge army with his rapid passing, the sheer amount of breaches he made provided many isolated mechs the opportunity to reach out to their closest neighbors.

The space knights who were incapable of wiping out every ranged ghost mech and the rifleman mechs who incurred too much damage from melee ghost mechs eagerly gathered together. By combining their strengths and covering their weaknesses, the groupings achieved enough synergy to defeat a lot more grey mechs!

Tusa Billingsley-Larkinson achieved even better results. His light skirmisher wasn't suited to fight in these conditions and his mech still possessed limited energy reserves.

The light mech specialist found his own way of breaching through the barriers that kept the Larkinson mechs apart.

His light skirmisher boldly flew ahead with even greater speed than the Quint's momentous charge!

The expert candidate concentrated his will to achieve the greatest speed possible. Nothing was allowed to stand in his way! No barrier or limit was allowed to hold his mech back as he accelerated his mech to greater velocities!

"My freedom is sacred! No cage shall ever lock me in place!"

Many trapped mechs only noticed a rapid mech passing through their cage before breaking through the shadows with its own frame!

Dozens of holes opened in an instance, and Tusa's mech was already in the process of opening up additional cavities!

No matter how these expert candidates worked to save their comrades, each of them succeeded in surpassing their previous limits.

Though none managed to achieve apotheosis at this desperate hour, their wills became more honed than ever. Their lights expanded throughout the dark sphere, thereby illuminating some of the trapped mechs and slowing down their fall.

Yet hindering the anomaly was not enough to stem this crisis! As time went on, the dark sphere grew stronger. Each expert candidate encountered increasingly stiffer resistance.

"This can't go on!"