The Mech Touch

　　Due to their speed and decisiveness, the panicked and despairing pakklatons did not have time to perform any major sabotage actions.

　　While there were still crazed pakklatons that sought to ruin numerous important ship components, their efforts were too rudimentary to compromise the entire hull.

　　The only annoying part was that the various boarding parties always had to maintain their guard in case the voribugs made an appearance.

　　The aggressive, voracious insects seemed to possess a special hunger towards living creatures and always launched attacks when their numbers grew large enough.

　　Every infantry soldier aboard the alien vessels learned first-hand why all of the other intelligent races in the Red Ocean hated the voribugs! There were just too many of them and they never stopped coming!

　　"I can't imagine what will happen once the voribugs spread to the Milky Way…" A Crosser soldier remarked.

　　"The Big Two would never allow that to happen. They maintain tight control over the greater beyonder gate."

　　"Heh, do you think that will be enough? Let me tell you that as long as someone records the genetics of these aliens, they can breed them from scratch in an artificial lab. Sooner or later, someone crazy enough will unleash them onto the Milky Way!"

　　This was quite a scary prospect!

　　While the residents of the Red Ocean had spent eons getting accustomed to living with these space pests, the occupants of the Milky Way were largely unprepared!

　　While it was not that difficult for first-raters and second-raters to keep the voribugs at bay, a lot of third-raters would definitely suffer because their means were much poorer!

　　"If we can think about it, so can the MTA and CFA." A mech officer stated. "Leave this problem to the big guys. Focus on our mission. Our only job is to sweep this ship of any threats."

　　As the humans made more progress in taking control over the alien evacuation ship, the progress of Ketis and her band of elite Swordmaiden soldiers had slowed.

　　It couldn't be helped. Ever since she and Ves agreed on subduing the aliens whenever possible, it took a lot of time for the human invaders to persuade the panicking and hysterical pakklatons to drop their resistance.

　　The inability to communicate with the cawing bird-like aliens led to a lot of frustration and misunderstanding.

　　While the other infantry squads had little choice but to resort to lethal violence in order to clean up the resisting pakklatons, Ketis had another option.

　　A swordmaster's combat prowess was unimaginably greater than the typical foot soldier.

　　Through repeated encounters, she fully showcased her transcendent skills, her incredible might and her amazing control.

　　Whenever armed pakklaton soldiers in their light alloy armored suits attempted to attack the Swordmaiden soldiers, Ketis stabbed her Bloodsinger out in a precise fashion, causing her weapon to release sharp energy darts that disabled all of the integrated weapon mounts while also demolishing their flight modules and possibly their power systems.

　　The affected pakklaton soldiers all crashed onto the deck as their combat armor turned into coffins!

　　It was easy enough to pacify the crippled and disoriented alien soldiers after that. The pakklaton soldiers clearly never fought against an existence akin to a swordmaster.

　　To be fair, most human soldiers had never encountered a transcendent warrior either. They wouldn't fare much better if they collided against Ketis on the battlefield.

　　While Ketis was content that she was able to leverage her strength to prevent avoidable deaths, her heart and mind came under an increasing amount of turmoil.

　　Having witnessed Joshua procrastinate over his moral dilemma, Ketis was not unaware of what she was going through.

　　Every expert pilot faced a test at some point in their careers.

　　Resolving it would release a part of their mental shackles and allow them to condense their will further.

　　Failure could cause the expert pilots to stagnate as their will and convictions were no longer as firm as before.

　　Ketis never imagined that she would face her own test so soon. Although these dilemmas sounded rather trivial from the outside, they were still incredibly difficult to solve by the affected individuals themselves.

　　This was because they could not blindly rely on other people's advice to clear the fog in their minds!

　　The answers to their dilemmas had to come from themselves. The solutions needed to conform completely to their personalities, their life choices, their reasons to fight and most importantly their principles.

　　Every expert pilot was different, so each of them needed to come up with their own answers. No single response could resolve everyone's doubts.

　　The same applied to Ketis. As a swordmaster, she was driven by her need to excel as a mech designer. She sought greater power not just to protect herself, but also gain deeper insights into the truths and mysteries behind swordsmanship.

　　As long as she mastered the sword, she could transfer her gains to her mechs, allowing her products to surpass those of other swordsman mech designers!

　　This was a fine motivation and one that carried her quite far. Ketis and Sharpie steadily grew stronger over time due to this influence and it appeared that they would not slow down anytime soon.

　　However, that was before Ketis decided to take part in this battle.

　　It was easy enough for her to go along with the flow when she was observing the attack on the pakklaton refugee fleet from afar.

　　Even when thousands of pakklatons died as a result of the damage inflicted by the Larkinson Clan's mechs, Ketis never felt any remorse. The aliens of the Red Ocean were doomed since humanity entered the scene.

　　Now that she faced the pakklatons up close, it was no longer possible for her to maintain her ruthless stance.

　　The bird-like aliens might not be human, but they were not that different from people like her fellow Larkinsons. They exhibited love, duty, fear and despair. They created a society that resembled human society. They weren't guilty of any heinous deeds that could justify the extinction of their entire race.

　　The aliens here weren't pirates. The majority of pakklatons on the ship were clearly civilians and many of them juvenile at that. These innocent avians who hadn't even grown feathers yet did not pose a threat to anyone in their current state.

　　She couldn't bring herself to slaughter the pakklatons in an unscrupulous manner.

　　Of course, she wasn't silly enough to extend the same courtesy to the voribugs.

　　She hacked her sword and cut the persistent insects in half. She swept her Bloodsinger again in order to release an energy wave that wiped out all of the voribugs approaching from the front.

　　Although the voribugs were unworthy opponents to her, killing them provided her with an anchor for her will.

　　There were still aliens in existence that did not deserve to live. The voribugs were space vermin that made everyone's lives difficult. They only left destruction in their wake and possessed no redeeming qualities.

　　The turbulence in her heart calmed down as she immersed herself in cutting down these mindless bugs.

　　"Why am I struggling?" She asked herself. "What is making my sword hand so shaky all of a sudden?"

　　Once she arranged her thoughts and reflected on her recent thoughts, she understood that the problem didn't lie with her ambitions.

　　She was still as firm as ever when it came to fulfilling her dream of becoming the best swordsman mech designer in existence!

　　With the Monster Slayer Project and the Second Sword Project nearing completion, she looked forward to how many mech pilots she could delight with her new products.

　　The Monster Slayer would be her first commercial mech design! Once the landbound swordsman mech entered the market, Ketis would finally be able to feel what it was like to compete against other market players!

　　The Second Sword on the other hand would be her first real contribution to the Swordmaiden Mech Legion.

　　Once the Swordmaidens piloted the new swordsman mech she designed exclusively for her fellow sisters, she could finally take over the mantle that once belonged to Mayra.

　　With all of these developments taking place in the near future, Ketis did not wish to become engulfed by her own problems.

　　She needed to overcome this hurdle in order to smooth out her progression.

　　After a bit of thinking, she understood what she had been neglecting up until this point.

　　The ambition she was working towards was personal in nature. Though she possessed other goals such as helping the Swordmaidens prosper and doing her best to keep the Larkinson Clan alive, none of them were as important as designing the best swordsman mechs.

　　While she was incredibly clear what she wanted to accomplish, she never made any concrete decisions on how she wanted to attain her ultimate goal.

　　"The journey is just as important as the destination." She whispered.

　　Right now, this battle put her journey squarely into focus. There were many different ways she could choose from in order to realize her design philosophy, but the key variable that distinguished her choices was morality.

　　"Let's take a short break." She commanded her troops as she stopped advancing forward.

　　As her fellow Swordmaidens took the time to check their equipment and survey the path forward, Ketis stood in a corner and looked at her armored sword hand.

　　The fact that it was shaking was incredibly absurd. Swordmasters were never supposed to waver when they wielded their weapons.

　　The reason why Ketis was afflicted by this condition was because she had become confused about her own morality. She never really spent much thought about this topic in the past. It didn't seem necessary or relevant at the time.

　　"I was too weak back then. What do good and evil matter when I constantly have to struggle to survive?"

　　She was also a follower back then who embraced the ideals of the Swordmaidens and the Larkinson Clan without much resistance.

　　It was only when she became an influential Journeyman and swordmaster that she was able to rise from the masses. She was no longer an ordinary person and her decisions could affect the lives of a lot of people.

　　With her growing responsibilities, it became increasingly more important for her to determine her own morality.

　　"What kind of sword should I wield?" She asked herself.

　　She thought back on all of the pirates and soldiers she killed with her greatsword over the years. She reveled in the slaughter and found a lot of inspiration in using the sword for its fundamental purpose.

　　"Swords are made for killing."

　　As a swordmaster and swordsman mech designer, how could she possibly deny this truth?

　　However, she also thought back on her motivation to protect her fellow sisters and Larkinsons. She not only fought to preserve her life, but also the lives of others such as Joshua, Ves, Dise and more.

　　"Swords can be used to protect."

　　Killing without reason was stupid and self-destructive. A swordmaster like Ketis should aspire to fight for a cause that was greater and more righteous than satisfying her bloodlust.

　　Ketis believed in both stances, but the problem right now was that they didn't always get along. Getting confronted by aliens that didn't necessarily deserve to get cut by her Bloodsinger had brought this conflict forward in an ugly fashion!

　　She realized that the time had come for her to make a decision. Was she more inclined to fight without getting entangled by distracting thoughts like justification, or was she a swordmaster who fought with honor?

　　Choosing the former would allow her to fight with fewer constraints.

　　Choosing the latter would give her a greater sense of purpose.

　　Both of them had their own pros and cons. Ketis was certain that she would experience drastic changes once she settled on her choice!