The Mech Touch

The clash between the Battle Criers and the Burza Fens was nearing its end. While the former managed to inflict a couple of setbacks to the latter, in the end the illogical and reality-defying powers of an expert pilot was too much for regular pilots to contend with. They weren't called demigods for nothing!

"Can mortal mech pilots like me only do this much?" Dietrich wondered with a sigh. "Expert pilots are still too powerful…"

The new luminar crystal rifles the Battle Criers received was just a single tool. It did not provide them with the complete package needed to fight against expert mechs on a more even basis.

At the very least, if they brought double the amount of Bright Warriors armed with the new model rifles, the outcome of this highly-watched clash could have produced a very different outcome!

"You guys didn't fail." Ves softly said as he saw the Battle Criers losing so many mechs that they fell below the critical mass that was the minimum level necessary to pose a threat to the Burza Fens. "We just prepared too few luminar crystal rifles for you. If we prioritized its production more…"

If there was one consolation to this disappointing end to Dietrich's participation in this battle, it was that he was certain that his cockpit was safe. The enemy expert mech never spared any time to attack the escaping human mech pilots.

This was mainly because taking out active threats was a greater priority than shooting down mech pilots who weren't able to contribute to the battle any further. If the expert pilot was stupid enough to waste precious time on shooting down ejected cockpits, a lot more Bright Warrior mechs would be intact right now which was not good news for the dwarf!

That didn't necessarily make Dietrich's mood any better. As his cockpit automatically flew back to the fleet, he became depressed as he imagined how much more damage his opponent could do once it was done with the Battle Criers. It still retained more than enough battle effectiveness to butcher a couple more hundred regular mechs!

Just as Dietrich thought that the Burza Fens would finish off the remaining Battle Crier mechs as if they were target dummies, two slightly more remarkable beams accurately struck the damaged portion of the dwarven expert mech's weapon arm!

These double slicer beams didn't seem to be any different from the other shots fired by the other Battle Crier mechs accurately struck a damaged elbow section that previous attacks had already damaged.

The twin shots achieved what all of the other attacks made by the Battle Criers failed to accomplish.

They made the Burza Fens halt.

To be more precise, the two slicer beams managed to exploit an earlier opening created by a lucky hit. This time, the two shots clearly weren't guided by luck but rather extremely high skill and excellent judgement!

Though the elbow joints of expert mechs were designed to be tough and resistant to damage, the slicer beams just managed to damage some of its mechanisms, causing the entire limb to hitch up for a moment. This ruined the dwarven expert mech's attack attempt and caused the Bright Warrior that was in its sights to back off with plenty of time to spare!

While the Burza Fens continued to aim and shoot its laser carbine at the retreating Battle Crier mechs, the expert pilot directed his attention to a pair of mechs that had recently approached this area of the battlefield.

Whereas most human mechs sought to stay as far away from an enemy expert mech as possible, the two marauder mechs purposefully sought out the expert mech of the Avido Berserkers.

"You…" The dwarf briefly frowned before recognizing the mechs in question. "YOU! YOU'RE THE ENVOYS OF THE EVIL WOMAN GOD WHO MURDERED MY BROTHERS!"

Venerable Joshua's lips twitched. Of all of the insults that an enemy has thrown onto his back, being called a representative of an 'evil woman god' was quite the moniker.

After the Penitent Sisters successfully launched their battle formation attacks, they retreated to the rear in order to catch their breath and recover from their great exertion.

Only Venerable Joshua and a small group of overeager Penitent Sisters threw themselves in the fight despite feeling as if they had sapped their brain juices.

After preventing the drug-induced dwarven expert pilots from breaking through the Larkinson and Crosser lines, Joshua noticed that the smaller struggle between the Battle Criers and the dwarven expert axeman mech wasn't going as planned.

"Looks like it takes an expert pilot to beat another expert pilot after all…"

This was why he was here. Seeing that there were so many ownerless luminar crystal rifles floating in space, he commanded his Valkyrie Prime to pass over its Unending alloy to another Valkyrie Redeemer and picked up the weapons previously utilized by the Battle Criers.

Of course, it was not that easy to pick up any random mech weapon wandering in space. Joshua had to wait until the Battle Crier support staff back in the fleet to disable the electronic locks on the powerful rifles.

If these precautions weren't in place, then any enemy mech could have picked them up and fired them upon the enemy!

Once the staff had completed this task, the luminar crystal rifles became ready for use in his hands.

Though Joshua didn't have a lot of opportunities to wield these rifles, he knew how to operate them. It was a bit awkward for him to wield two of them at once as the Valkyrie Prime had only been designed to hold one ranged weapon, but his familiarity with his current machine was high enough that he managed to cope.

"I WILL CRIPPLE YOUR FAILED EXPERT MECH AND REND YOU OUT OF YOUR COCKPIT SO THAT I CAN SQUEEZE YOUR UGLY TALL BODY WITH THE FINGERS OF MY MECH!"

Well, the dwarven expert pilot certainly sounded excited to meet Joshua.

The Larkinson expert pilot didn't blame the dwarf. As someone who was sensitive towards life, it pained him to play an important role in unleashing an enormous energy attack that snuffed out the lives of thousands of dwarven mech pilots.

He personally felt the vitality of the Molten Hammer mech force dropping as the energy wave attack swept through the defenses of their tough and sturdy mechs with ease.

Joshua found it rather contradictory that someone who was as sensitive towards life as him took on a job that was all about death and destruction. He wondered how someone like Ves handled this contrast. Was the patriarch the same as him and felt guilty about all of the killing that was taking place as a result of his work?

If so, then Joshua wanted to learn some tips from him. He faintly had the idea that he really needed to resolve his thoughts on the matter in order to go further in his career as a mech pilot.

He shook his head. This was not the time and place to entertain these deep thoughts. He still had a battle to fight!

"No matter how guilty I feel about reaping all of those lives, the dwarves brought it on themselves by attacking us. If not me, then another Larkinson mech pilot would have killed them. At least I've been able to save the lives of a lot of clansmen with my contribution."

The life of a Larkinson member always trumped that of the enemy. He took no pleasure in slaying dwarves, but if he had to increase his already prodigious body count again, he would not let his guilt get in the way of his duty.

"I'll bring you to the rest of your fallen dwarven comrades if you miss them so much!"

The Valkyrie Prime raised its luminar crystal rifles and fired another twin slicer beam salvo! This time, they accurately struck the weapon arm that had already been damaged by the prime mech's earlier shots.

Joshua wasn't satisfied, though. The slicer beams dealt respectable damage to an expert mech but the severity was still on the modest side. The power gap was inherently big from the beginning and the advantages of luminar crystal technology only moderately brought it closer.

A brilliant idea emerged in his mind.

"Why not try and resonate with the weapons?"

The rifles utilized by the Valkyrie Prime were different from the one used by the Amaranto. The mass production version did not contain any components that inherently resonated with expert pilots.

That did not stop Joshua, though. He focused his will and tried to extend his influence to the weapons.

Much to his glee, he succeeded in finding purchase in the weapon. Although the connections were too faint and rough for him to empower them or anything, the luminar crystals possessed just enough life for him to gain a more instinctive feel and understanding of their properties!

Therefore, when the Valkyrie Prime fired its next salvo, the two beams more accurately sliced through a small section of the dwarven expert mech's flight system!

Though the mobility of the Burza Fens was hardly affected by this minor attack, the dwarven expert pilot became increasingly more alarmed. Unlike the Battle Crier mech pilots, this human possessed the skill to maximize the penetrative properties of the luminar crystal rifles!

In response to the dangerous slicer beam attacks, the Burza Fens raised its laser carbine and snapped off an accurate shot that struck the Valkyrie Prime's shoulder.

The empowered laser beam failed to inflict any meaningful damage to the prime mech! Aside from heating up the armor section a bit, the attack failed to achieve anything of note!

It was only now that the dwarven expert pilot noticed that this fake expert mech was clad in the same first-class alloy as the other annoying human expert mechs!

"Looks like I won't be taking you down the easy way. So be it! I don't believe your mech is invincible!"

The Burza Fens accelerated forward even as the Valkyrie Prime was flying backwards. Their speeds weren't comparable and the more superior mech easily gained speed. Still, as it did, the prime mech constantly fired slicer beams after slicer beams as fast as its firing rate allowed.

The expert mech was too well-designed for a couple of carefully-aimed attacks to disable it right away, but Venerable Joshua began to wear down several systems and subsystems in rapid succession.

The Burza Fens steadily began to lose power, acceleration capacity, arm strength and various sensor systems.

Yet these wounds hardly caused the gap between the two unequal mechs to close! The expert mech possessed plenty of redundancy and could still perform decently well even if the various slicer beams managed to inflict a lot of nasty cuts on its surface.

In the final seconds before the two mechs approached, the Valkyrie Prime unleashed its final double beam onto the fingers of the expert mech. This severely impacted its grip on its axe, so much so that the dwarven expert pilot had to adjust the way his mech held its weapon!

Even so, that didn't stop the Burza Fens from hacking down its axe onto the Valkyrie Prime's left arm!

Just before the heavy axe struck, the Valkyrie Prime tossed its rifles and crossed its arms, blocking the heavy axe chop with its forearms!

The Valkyrie Prime's wrists smacked into its chest and unloaded much of the physical force of the attack by allowing itself to be launched backwards!

Seeing that his proud axe strike failed to achieve any meaningful damage, the dwarven expert pilot reached a new level of fury.

"Argh! What does it take to tear through your armor?!"

The Burza Fens exuded even more power as its pilot became absolutely determined to avenge his fallen brothers!

The expert axeman mech began to assail the Valkyrie Prime with unrelenting aggression. The prime mech had just enough time to retrieve its spear and shield from an assisting mech, but after that Venerable Joshua could hardly breathe after that because a vengeful dwarf was out for murder!