The Mech Touch

In fact, while the Everchanger was capable of generating a lot of power, there was one expert mech in the task force that had already exceeded this level!

After Patriarch Reginald and the bladed fish-whale spontaneously initiated a duel across species, neither of them expected that it would last so long!

Over twenty minutes had passed as they battled it out against each other at a high pace.

In one moment, the Bolvos Rage swung its empowered Whale-Cutting Saber straight against the reinforced horn of the bladed fish-whale, only for the weapon to bounce back as the horn of the creature was unnaturally hard.

The bladed fish-whale had proven over and over again that its horn was not a regular piece of whale bone.

It was the crystallization of its desire to develop a blade that was hard enough to cut through the barriers that kept them boxed inside this phase whale enclave!

As the bladed fish-whale successfully blocked the Whale-Cutting Saber, it used its horn to drive forward in an attempt to slash against the expert mech while it was still recovering!

However, just as the big fish-whale was about to land its strike, the Bolvos Rage fired all of its integrated energy weapons straight at the gigantic head of the creature!

The sensor systems of many spectating mechs struggled to show the attack in question as the expert mech did not hold back much when it unleashed its energy barrage!

The bladed fish-whale roared in pain and couldn't focus on its attack anymore. Its horn missed its mark and also left its body vulnerable to a counterattack.

The powerful Bolvos Rage zipped close and chopped its Whale-Cutting Saber onto the bladed fish-whale's enormous bulk.

A copious amount of blood spilled at once as the new heavy saber tore a wide valley through the bladed fish-whale's tough but ultimately fallible hide!

However, the Bolvos Rage did not have the opportunity to make a second cut. It had already been smacked by its opponent's strong tail or knocked around by the creature's even harder head!

As the expert mech retreated, the bladed fish-whale concentrated for a few seconds, causing its large and awful-looking wound to heal in a matter of seconds!

"You're a tough one!" Patriarch Reginald cursed. "How much blood do you have in your body?!"

Based on its body mass, the bladed fish-whale could bleed all day like this and still not get deflated!

This was one of the many advantages of having a big body!

The Bolvos Rage continued to fight in an effort to deal as much damage to the bladed fish-whale as possible.

After many attempted attacks, Patriarch Reginald had pretty much given up on defeating the fish-whale in a single blow. The creature was just too thick and massive to be defeated in a straightforward confrontation.

His expert mech was already starting to show its age!

Even when it was wielding its new saber, the strength of its wielder was a major reason why it was not able to cut deeper and bloodier wounds.

Attacking the bladed fish-whale with the Bolvos Rage's integrated weapon systems was also a poor solution.

Fish-whale bodies possessed an inherent resistance against extreme heat and energy fluctuations. The bladed fish-whale was even more resilient towards laserbeams and energy beams. Any flesh damaged by the expert mech's ranged weapons quickly regenerated to the point where they no longer displayed any marks.

Faced with such a frustratingly tough opponent, Patriarch Reginald had little choice but to turn this duel into a battle of attraction.

As boring as it sounded, Reginald still understood the necessity of approach against particularly tough shells. The bladed fish-whale did not show any exhaustion despite its body getting abused in so many different ways.

From how its fighting spirit constantly escalated as the duel went on, some of the humans even thought that it was enjoying the punishment!

"Don't you think that bladed fish-whale looks crazy by now? Just look at its eyes! It looks like it wants to gobble up the Bolvos Rage!"

"These fish-whales don't have any fun around here. I'm not surprised that they are obsessed with dueling against each other. There are no drama broadcasts for them to watch or virtual games to play around here. Their civilization is so primitive that they haven't even built their own homes. These whales are poor creatures."

As the spectators kept swapping nonsense, the two sides continued to fight against each other in an attempt to outlast the opposition.

This struggle was actually quite close!

The bladed fish-whale might look brave and fearless in the face of repeated injuries, but it was actually exhausting its regenerative capacity fairly quickly.

Endless regeneration didn't exist and the bladed fish-whale had to tap into its bodily reserves in order to make up for the spilled blood and damaged cells.

On the other hand, the Bolvos Rage did not possess an exceptional degree of endurance. The high-tier expert mech was able to hit harder than many other mechs but it also consumed a lot more energy than normal.

Even though the Bolvos Rage was built to high standards, it was not capable of unleashing high-powered attack after high-powered attack without consequences.

Already the Bolvos Rage's weapon systems were showing signs of getting worn out due to the repeated stresses they endured.

In order to preserve the longevity of its weapon systems and prevent them from malfunctioning during an actual battle, Patriarch Reginald had already slowed down his use of them as the duel dragged on. His expert mech wasn't capable of supplying endless energy anyway, so this was a good way to ration its remaining energy reserves.

The two combatants continued to hammer away at each other. They even started to get creative and pulled all kinds of unorthodox attacks and strange solutions!

For example, the bladed fish-whale actually had the idea of chaining its morphable bones into a giant wrecking ball that was attached to a bone chain that extended from its tail!

As soon as the bladed fish-whale adopted this brand-new weapon, it became a lot more confident in its ability of smacking nearby enemies aside!

Though the wrecking ball did not move fast enough when the bladed fish-whale swung its tail, Patriarch Reginald was not foolish enough to think his expert mech could handle an attack of this magnitude.

Since it became a lot more dangerous for the Bolvos Rage to approach the bladed fish-whale at close range, Patriarch Reginald had to attack the giant creature from a healthy distance.

Patriarch Reginald struggled during this phase in the duel as he was not the sort of mech pilot who preferred to go around circles all the time.

It was unfortunate that this was exactly what the bladed fish-whale was trying to accomplish!

Since its energy weapons were not effective against this target, Patriarch Reginald decided to try something new and focused on deepening his mastery of the Whale-Cutting Saber.

After landing many powerful strikes on the resilient fish-whale, Reginald had quickly gained a deeper appreciation of the extremely sharp weapon and the extraordinary saber style that Ketis had embedded in the weapon.

As Reginald seriously began to practice the saber style against a live opponent, he quickly reached a state where he was able to channel an extraordinary saber technique to dramatic effect!

"Whoa!"

"Is that Dise in the cockpit or did I see wrong?!"

"Patriarch Reginald has become a Heavensworder!"

A sharp but domineering wave of energy shot out as the Bolvos Rage slashed its glowing weapon!

When the resonance-empowered energy attack landed on the bladed fish-whale's body, the damage it dealt was different from the expert mech's previous attacks!

The Bolvos Rage's more normal saber attacks only dealt shallow wounds that the bladed fish-whale could easily heal while its ranged attacks were easily dispersed and absorbed.

The extraordinary energy attack behaved in a different manner by sinking deeper and cutting through much more layers of flesh and bone!

The bladed fish-whale silently wailed in pain! This time its wounds were serious!

"Hah!" Reginald laughed as he recognized the charm of the saber style that Ketis had imparted to him. "No wonder Venerable Dise is so confident that she'll be able to surpass me one day. As long as her willpower and sword practice have become strong enough, her First Sword can cut through any matter!"

As a hybrid mech specialist, Patriarch Reginald generally did not dive too deeply into melee combat. However, he still spent a decent amount of focus on this aspect as high-tier expert mechs were easily prone to exchanging blows up close.

The Whale-Cutting Saber opened up a new possibility to Patriarch Reginald. His Bolvos Rage could gain an additional means of attacking from range, and it was different as well.

The penetration power of this extraordinary technique was impressively high even though he was just getting started!

Part of that was because Ketis had tried her best to turn the Whale-Cutting Saber into a blade that was worthy enough to carve through phase whale bone.

Another part of that was because Patriarch Reginald was a high-tier expert pilot that possessed a monstrous degree of resonance strength when compared to his peers. Just the ability to pump so much more true resonance in a sword slash meant that it was inevitable for the bladed fish-whale to pay the price for underestimating his saber energy attack!

With a perfect punching bag in front of the Bolvos Rage, Patriarch Reginald eagerly commanded his expert mech to perform technique after technique.

After sending out a dozen sharp and intensive saber energy attacks, Reginald had roughly figured out the conditions and a portion of their principles.

His will needed to align with the purpose of the Whale-Cutting Saber in order to achieve the greatest effect in battle.

With one powerful slash after another, Reginald consciously got a greater feel of the saber. He even developed the impulse to put down the axes that he favored in the past so that he could fully commit himself to wielding a heavy saber.

Reginald quickly regained his wits and did not allow himself to get attracted by temporary matters.

He had a duel to win!

"How long will you last? Your bones are sticking out, big fish. Those saber energy attacks are not that easy to block."

The bladed fish-whale was riddled with wounds, but its strong and comparative spirit had never faded!

The wrecking ball attached to the bladed fish-whale's tail had turned into a deadly weapon that looked useful against certain opponents, but was still too crude.

This was why the bladed fish-whale constantly came up with new plans. It had never been pressured by previous opponents to this degree. The creature apparently possessed a lot of control over its body and was able to alter its body functions whenever it wished.

The bladed fish-whale had a penchant for bone. As long as it was able to get its hands on supplementary bone material, the champion fish could easily reach another level.

"Look out! It's body is changing even more!"

Bladed chains extended out of its body. They stuck out like sore thumbs and featured plenty of sharp edges, making them ideal for chopping enemies that dared to get too close.

The Bolvos Rage may be strong enough to endure numerous attacks, but even Reginald had to think twice about exposing his expert mech to a continuous rain of blows.

When the bladed fish-whale rolled its body around, its sharp chains began to swing through a wide area.

Patriarch Reginald was amazed when those swinging bone chains partially blocked and weakened the saber energy attacks he unleashed.

"Damn! That works?!"

The two duelists continued to adjust their approach while evolving their various methods. It had been too long since they had fought against different but powerful opponents. The collision of new and unfamiliar techniques sparked an arms race where both sides tried to exceed each other by relying on their ingenuity!

"I won't stop until you admit your defeat, fish-whale!"