The Mech Touch

"Poor fish-whales. They showed so much strength and mastery of spatial manipulation. Now, they have completely devolved into foils for all of mech pilots that have just broken through. They never stood a chance against so many power outbursts."

"Huh?" Venerable Joshua turned and threw a perplexed glance towards Ves. "Are you sympathizing with the Phasers after all of the mech pilots that they have killed?" 

"I do, but only a little bit. Don't get me wrong. The Phasers are still our enemies and it is undeniable that they have killed a lot of good men and women. It's just… we both fought against each other by displaying the strength and skill that we normally possess. All of that became messed up since you and the Everchanger intervened according to my last instruction. I'm happy that we managed to overpower the Phasers, but I imagine the enemy fish-whales are anything but happy that their enemies summoned so much power out of nowhere."

The Phasers weren't the only ones that became perplexed and fearful of the drastic and unanticipated changes.

The Evolver fish-whales that had previously fought by the side of the human mechs without any reluctance underwent rapid changes after witnessing the same outbursts of power.

Previously, the Evolvers did not take the threat of mechs that seriously. The power of the machines were fairly respectable when fighting against the Swarmers, but the other fish-whale subspecies were much more formidable on an individual basis!

Aside from a few powerful machines such as the Bolvos Rage, none of the other mechs exerted a lot of pressure onto the Evolver fish-whales.

This time was different. The Evolvers not only saw that they had overlooked the hidden power within these odd metal machines, but also realized that they had been traveling and fighting alongside outsiders that could easily turn all of their might against their 'allies'!

The Cerebral King never made any moves after Vincent Ricklin had his moment and punched the Phase King's massive body.

The impossible strength displayed by the empowered B-Man exceeded all of his calculations related to the outsiders!

Not only that, but the other instances of overwhelming might also left a deep impression in its active mind.

From the purple fires spread by Isobel Kotin to the violent doom delivered by the so-called Handmaidens of Death, it became clear that it was a grave mistake to underestimate the rich and powerful means of the humans that had arrived in this pocket space without warning!

As the alien beasts from both sides forcibly revised their impressions of the human mechs on the battlefield, Ves vaguely captured the widespread shift in attitude.

"These fish-whales are finally learning about the dangers of the outside domain. They have never come face to face with threats beyond their own race. It's quite a revelation for them to learn that their petty fights are meaningless in front of overwhelming external threats."

The overall mood on the battlefield had become more complex due to all of the recent changes.

The successful breakthroughs had invigorated the morale of all of the human mech pilots, or at least the limited number that were still able to put up a fight.

The Battle of Purgatory had dragged on long enough that few mechs were able to perform anywhere near their peak conditions.

Mechs had already started to rotate towards the rear lines where they quickly swapped out their spent energy cells for fresh ones that the supply train kept in storage.

This was a risky operation as it made the mechs as well as the personnel and bots performing the work vulnerable to enemy attacks.

Fortunately, the few Phaser fish-whales left alive were in no shape to take advantage of these vulnerabilities. They were all traumatized by the awesome displays of power from all of the mechs.

The battle may have entered into a lull after the final breakthroughs had run their course, but the fighting never completely ceased.

There were still plenty of mechs and Evolvers that were doing their best to neutralize the remaining threats on the battlefield.

Even if a group of Phasers had become so frightened that they had actually turned around to flee back to the Lake Continent, their opponents did not let them off. Every fish-whale that sought to run away was cut down without mercy!

The Everchanger slowly flew towards the center of the battlefield and stopped at a healthy distance from the Cerebral King.

The injured and partially-exhausted king fish did not appear to be in a bad shape.

Though it had taken the brunt of the Phase King's attacks, the Cerebral King had made many enhancements to its body.

With the constant flow of energy provided by its starship-grade power reactor, the Cerebral King's body still remained vigorous and powerful.

Even now, the injured portions of its body were slowly healing up as time went by. The Cerebral King might have been able to win its duel against the Phase King without the intervention of external allies!

The Cerebral King just had to survive the onslaught of attacks unleashed by the Phase King.

Once the latter expended its energy and ran out of steam, the much more persistent leader of the Evolution Kingdom could have slowly gained the upper hand!

All of that went out of the window with the latest mutations on the battlefield.

As the Cerebral King continued to stay still while getting lost in thought, Ves grew impatient. He mentally reached out to the big fish and tried to prod it back into action.

"Hey, don't get distracted. The Phase King may be on its last legs but it can still run away and threaten you in the future. You need to finish it off once and for all so that we can both return uninterrupted."

The powerful king fish stirred before it began to move.

CORRECT. TRAITOR IS WEAK. TRAITOR MUST DIE NOW. HAVE WAITED TOO LONG FOR GODBLOOD KING'S DEMISE.

The Cerebral King accelerated forward and approached the burned and crippled form of the Phase King.

Despite its awful state, Ves did not dare to bring the Everchanger too close in order to deliver the finishing blow.

He had witnessed much of its previous attacks and became incredibly respectful of its power.

Instead of putting the Everchanger at risk, Ves much preferred to leave the dirty work to the Evolvers.

Once the Cerebral King became reminded of the 'crimes' committed by the Phase King long ago, its hatred and intent to kill had peaked again.

The king fish did not delay any further and dove in for the kill!

Ves became a bit disgusted as he saw that the Cerebral King ruthlessly tore out a piece of vulnerable flesh from the Phase King's body.

The latter tried to defend itself as best as possible by generating weak spatial attacks, but the enemy beast had lost so much strength that the Cerebral King didn't even take them seriously!

As if knowing that the Phase King was unable to defend itself in any way, the Cerebral King ate the other king fish's biomass without any concern about being hindered!

Seeing that the final significant threat was being dealt by getting eaten alive, the mechs and the Evolvers slowly stood down after finishing off the last elite Phaser fish-whales.

The surviving Evolvers all imitated their leader and sought out the bodies of fallen Phasers to fill up their stomachs and absorb the strength of their former foes.

The champion fishes that had performed well and survived the onslaught all picked out the bodies of their greatest opponents.

The bladed fish-whale gorged upon the body of the Scar Prince while the silver fish-whale eagerly feasted upon the body of the Storm Prince.

What was curious about their eating patterns was that they showed great care in eating the intact organs of the fallen Phaser fish-whales.

They did not bite and tear them in any way but carefully enveloped their giant mouths over the organs so that they could swallow their special food whole.

Were the fish-whales able to assimilate the organs absorbed in this fashion?

As Ves and the other mech pilots observed the Evolvers enjoying all of the 'spoils', a few of them became annoyed at their behavior.

"Hey! They're eating our kills! The bodies of the Storm Prince and those other ones should be ours!"

"Don't complain too much. We defeated these Phaser fish-whales by letting the Evolvers take the lead. Our allies deserve to claim the largest share of the salvage."

"We should at least grab our own share! Aren't those phasewater organs worth a lot of money?"

The Minerva slowly flew closer as Commander Casella observed what the Evolvers were doing.

"Our supply train still has room for additional salvage. Please wait for possible instructions. I am assigning the exobiologists and other biotech experts in our task force to advise you on how to remove and store the organs of the fallen fish-whales."

Soon enough, numerous melee mechs began to move around in order to retrieve the most valuable organs from the available carcasses.

The mechs did not approach the bodies that the Evolvers were currently gorging upon to avoid any unnecessary friction.

The only exceptions were the bodies of the Storm Prince and a couple of other 'princes'. Their organs were just too valuable since they were significantly more powerful than the ones carried by the more regular alien beasts.

"I think it's safe. The Evolvers aren't reacting too much towards us. As long as we don't get too close, we can remove the organs that are furthest from their mouths."

Neither side touched the bodies of the slain Evolvers.

Curiously enough, the surviving Evolvers declined to eat or touch the bodies of their own defeated kin.

Was that a sign that their intelligence had moved past the point where they were able to suppress their strong instinctual desire to eat fish-whale bodies regardless of their ties?

"Interesting." Ves said. "Anyway, we need to get moving again. Don't take too long in harvesting these valuable Phaser organs."

"We will leave in ten minutes. Our shuttles cannot carry too much cargo and we should have rescued all of the mech pilots trapped inside their downed machines at this time."

Staying any further was not wise since there were still a lot of Phaser fish-whales left alive in the Lake Continent!

There were also the other fish-whale kingdoms to consider. Ves wasn't sure whether the Hot Kingdom became aware of this battle, but the Swarm Kingdom should definitely not sit still!

Ves had pretty much attained all of the goals he set out to accomplish for this campaign. Right now was not the time to revel in his success and think of all of the changes that would follow after triggering a mass breakthrough wave.

As the 10-minute deadline came close, the surviving and intact elements of Task Force Fisherman were just about to resume their journey when an unexpected mutation occurred!

The sensors of the Everchanger and many other mechs detected a powerful spike of activity from the site where the Cerebral King had eaten large portions of its former kin's body!

"What is happening?!"

"Look!"

"The Cerebral King's body is rapidly heating up! Its flesh is undergoing drastic changes while its phasewater organs are becoming extraordinarily active."

"It's… it's evolving!"

Ves sputtered after he learned what was going on. "What?! Here?! Now?!"

The Cerebral King's massive body rippled as if it was undergoing a metamorphosis at a scale unimaginable to humans!

As the king fish's form slowly expanded, the space around its body rapidly became more turbulent.

The escalating spatial fluctuations looked as if they could tear apart any mech that came too close, but the Cerebral King did not look as if it suffered any damage.

Instead, its body became more active and excited!

The Evolvers in the field had all ceased to eat their defeated opponents and turned to the Cerebral King as it was undergoing massive changes.

The expressions on the fish-whales were all filled with worship! The Evolvers were fanatical about what they were witnessing!

As the human observers kept searching for answers, the space surrounding the Cerebral King strained until it finally fractured!

The king fish's evolutionary process had somehow punched a hole through space!

What astonished the humans even further was that the hole did not lead to chaos or some lethal dimension.

Instead, the observers all became surprised when the other side of the hole looked remarkably stable!

"Wait! What's on the other side!"

"Are those bones?"

"That's… the Royal Tomb!"

As the Cerebral King continued to undergo a painful transformation, it had somehow broken through the barriers of Purgatory and reached out to another phase whale enclave!

Ves became alarmed at the sight. There was no way that what had happened was a coincidence!

"What the hell is the Cerebral King doing?!"

Before the Everchanger could tentatively approach the king fish in an attempt to get some answers, the transforming beast passed through the hole it had made!

"The Cerebral King has entered the Royal Tomb!"

Ves and many others had a bad feeling about this. None of them expected such a sudden event to happen.

"What do we do, sir?!"