The Mech Touch

Throughout the fight against the super whale, the mechers deployed a strong array of standard mechs.

While Ves admired their raw performance, their design traits, their degree of optimization as well as the abundant skill demonstrated by their mech pilots, he still felt the mech units were lacking a special addition.

"There aren't any expert mechs on the field."

Every mech force that was large and professional enough included at least one expert mech.

Ves did not believe that the MTA was so poor and shabby that it was unable to assign at least one expert mech to the mech roster of an important battlecarrier.

Why hadn't they shown up before? Ves couldn't answer this question.

What he did know was that the latest mech to enter the battlefield was an ace mech!

This was the second time in his life that he saw an ace mech live.

His first experience with an ace mech wasn't exactly pleasant, but it did allow him to 'appreciate' the power and majesty of ace mechs and ace pilots in an intimate fashion!

Although he was much further away from the battlefield this time, he was happier now that he could observe the performance of a powerful machine without getting into its crosshairs!

He took a closer look at the ace mech in the projected view.

Before he studied its appearance and construction, he first tried to get a sense of the domain of the ace pilot.

As soon as the powerful machine got up to speed, it had already expanded its Saint Kingdom. This made it a lot easier for Ves to analyze its properties even though he had to do so by remote!

"This pilot is a lot different from Saint Yila Mayorka."

The female ace pilot and the strongest guard at the side of the Iron Emperor possessed a unique and highly distinctive focus. As a formidable dwarven halfgod, she excelled in mastering the use of mass, physical force and hammers to turn her ace mech into a physical powerhouse!

Compared to the heavy and unstoppable Olympus Mons, the MTA ace mech that emerged from the Paracelsus Optimus gave a slightly lighter and much more fluid impression!

One of the first words that came to mind when Ves examined this mech was water. The ace pilot evidently developed an extremely high affinity with water to the point where it became the core focus of its extraordinary power!

There were a few other elements in the pilot's domain that complimented this primary attribute, but they were secondary to the ace pilot's extreme embrace of water!

When Ves observed the actual ace mech, he understood a bit more why the pilot was so obsessed with the element of water.

It turned out that the ace mech was primarily designed as an aquatic mech!

Of course, an ace mech developed by the MTA would never be limited to a single environment.

It was too easy for the mechers to design an ace mech that fared best in aquatic environments but could also function well in space or in aerial environments.

The ace mech currently in view still exhibited the typical streamlined curves of an aquatic mech. It was partially shaped like a dolphin, but had transformed its frame so that it functioned better in space.

It made for a relatively strange sight, especially when the mech was surrounded by the strong ocean blue domain field produced by an advanced form of true resonance.

"It's like this aquatic mech is swimming through space by summoning its own water!"

The aquatic ace mech was too advanced for Ves to figure out any further details through sight alone. He finally gave in to his curiosity and quickly looked it up on the galactic net to learn more.

Every ace pilot was a prominent hero of human civilization. No matter who they belonged to or what they had done in the past, once they reached this level of strength, they had become noble figures that were comparable to Master Mech Designers in standing!

There was no way that such figures remained anonymous.

"Sure enough, there are records on the galactic net."

According to the MTA's external database, the aquatic ace mech was called the Margenna.

Just as Ves suspected, it was primarily designed to operate underwater and had already been deployed to fight against a diverse collection of aquatic opponents in the Red Ocean.

Whether it was sea beasts, sentient whales, submersible warships or other aquatic mechs, the Margenna had fought against them all with overwhelming power!

Of course, the Margenna also fought its fair share of alien threats on land and in space.

The ace mech was exclusively piloted by Saint Mikel Spindar, a talented junior ace pilot who was born in the MTA and served in its ranks for his entire life.

The public record didn't say much about Saint Mikel's special strengths and advantages, but it did state that he was avid about seeking out and defeating formidable beasts!

"This guy is a perfect match for the Paracelsus Optimus!"

The battlecarrier was clearly on a mission to study and fight the formidable phase whale race. It made sense for the MTA to set up specialized ships and units for this purpose as the power and influence of this alien species was rather great in the Red Ocean.

At this time, the Margenna had approached the super whale.

Even as the massive creature constantly fought against all of the mechs while also trying to shake off the harpoons that pinned it in place, the super whale immediately noticed the arrival of the Margenna.

The ace mech was too ostentatious!

With its expanded domain field, the Margenna imposed its pilot's will to dominate the oceans and defeat all aquatic life!

"What did the fish ever do to this guy?"

Ves had the impression that Saint Mikel developed an enormous grudge against sea creatures!

A few moments passed as the Margenna silently hovered above and in front of the trapped super whale.

Perhaps the two were communicating or staring menacingly at each other. Whatever the case, the surrounding mechs had largely stopped their attacks on the titanic beast.

The only mechs that were still struggling were the Interstellar Harpooners and the auxiliary shielding mechs that protected them against damage.

The super whale did not launch any more attacks against the mechs either. It identified the Margenna as a formidable opponent!

"Is the ace mech truly up to the task, though?"

Ves believed that the Margenna may be strong enough to contend against an ordinary phase whale, but the monstrosity that had emerged from this star system was different!

Even ace mechs could break when they were hit by sufficiently powerful attacks! Their Saint Kingdoms could only withstand so much energy before they reached their limits!

The super whale seemed to think the tiny ace mech was not that big of a threat after all. Its gigantic eyes began to show disdain towards this new machine.

No matter what powerful or extraordinary attacks landed on its body, all of the layers of flesh and bone provided it with an enormous damage buffer!

Even if a powerful strike was able to cut through many layers of flesh, the whale could easily heal from its wounds due to its powerful regenerative capabilities!

Ves waited in order to see whether the Margenna had the power to defeat the super whale without going overboard and causing it to die.

He already figured that the MTA would never let such an interesting and valuable research specimen go. Only by capturing it alive would the mechers be able to gain the most out of studying the alien body!

The Margenna's domain field slowly became more active. More and more power radiated from the mech and the surrounding environment, making it seem as if Saint Mikel Spindar was just about to beat down the super whale!

The ace mech had yet to make a move, though.

The machine continued to hover before its target but did not launch any attack.

"What is it waiting for?" Ves wondered.

Suddenly, the Paracelsus Optimus shot out a large and powerful energy link beam!

The bright beam directly passed through the Margenna's domain field without hindrance and struck the ace mech on its back!

Now that the aquatic dolphin-like mech gained an infusion of energy from its mothership, the machine exploded with power!

The heat and energy radiating from the Margenna went up by an order of magnitude while its Saint Kingdom became a lot more active!

Ves looked in complete shock as the ace mech became a lot scarier now that it had gained access to a stupendous amount of energy!

Although this infusion of power was not able to amplify the ace mech's resonance strength or true resonance directly, the massive boost to the machine itself massively upgraded the foundation of its combat prowess!

An ace pilot's ability to project strength was largely constrained by his ace mech. If the latter suddenly became ten times stronger, the former would naturally benefit!

This was exactly what was happening with Saint Mikel Spindar and his Margenna!

In fact, the effective strength they displayed was no longer based on the combination of an ace pilot and an ace mech.

Properly speaking, the Margenna currently channeled the combined strengths of an ace pilot, an ace mech as well as a battle carrier!

"This is cheating! The mechers are cheating!" Ves couldn't help but shout!

Sadly, the MTA did not respond to his complaints at all. The boosted Margenna steadily accumulated power that was far beyond its previous limitations, causing it to radiate might that closer matched that of the super whale!

By this time, the powerful monstrosity finally recognized the formidable threat posed by the Margenna, but that didn't change anything since it was still trapped in place!

Once the ace mech was finally ready, it finally launched its attacks!

At first, the Margenna fired numerous thunderous projectiles that impacted the super whale's flesh and caved through a lot of layers of protection at once!

Not only did the rounds inflict a lot of damage, but also induced an effect on the surrounding flesh that prevented them from healing the damage!

This opening move turned out to be a preparation for the next attack.

The Margenna fired a volley of energy beams that simultaneously struck the damaged areas on the super whale's body.

These beams were already incredibly powerful by themselves due to the boost the Margenna received from the Paracelsus Optimus.

When enhanced by the resonance of an ace pilot and an ace mech, the energy beams not only strengthened even further, but also gained extraordinary properties!

Ves and many observers became bedazzled as the true resonance affecting the energy beams actually morphed into the shape of water tentacles!

When the energy beams sank through the damaged portions of the super whale, they drilled through the flesh without much hindrance.

The trapped super whale thrashed its body in pain as the creature experienced an even greater suffering than before!

The Margenna was hardly finished. The energy beams turned water tentacles actually began to drill back out of the super whale's enormous body before turning around to wrap the gigantic body.

When the water tentacles began to squeeze the trapped beast, the super whale uttered another silent wail as its body and a part of its organs experienced great suffering!

After weakening the super wave, the Margenna dissipated its energy beams and launched its ultimate attack.

It began to move forward. Although it did not accelerate at its maximum possible rate, the closer it got to the super whale, the more the ace mech and its Saint Kingdom gained momentum.

The latter even began to churn before turning into an increasingly more vivid illusion of a tsunami.

The rolling water surrounding the Margenna began to exude more and more force and momentum.

At the last moment, the expanse of water expanded until it turned into a rolling wave that bludgeoned the head of the super whale along with much of its back!

Ves winced as the super whale endured so much damage that much of its upper bones broke!

When the Margenna eventually became visible just above the point where it physically collided against the head of the super whale, it became clear that the ace mech did not need to make any further moves.

The super whale had ceased all forms of resistance!

Ves almost couldn't believe what he had witnessed.

"This… this is the power that can contend against CFA battleships!"