The Mech Touch

As Ves exited his mental overdrive mode and granted his two overstrained brains a much-needed respite, a lot of changes happened in a short amount of time.

"Ah!"

First, the bridge operators reacted against the bright flash of light that briefly illuminated the bridge.

Their sophisticated helmets protected them from getting blinded by the excess brightness, but that didn't mean they had failed to notice anything.

"Papa!" "Papaa?"

Second, Aurelia and Andraste both turned to their father and became alarmed and afraid by how much their father had changed all of a sudden.

His spiritual presence had become qualitatively and quantitatively stronger.

His physical body exuded a sense of might and power that resembled that of powerful indigenous alien creatures.

Fortunately, his personal suit of combat armor blocked or dampened most of this effect.

The problem was that the Unending Regelia had undergone substantial changes as well, and not for the better. Those who looked at him would definitely be able to tell that something extremely weird had taken place in a short interval.

In one moment, Ves sat in his observer's seat while wearing a complete suit of combat armor.

In the next moment, Ves was still sitting in the same seat, but he had not only launched something powerful from his hands, but also wore a suit of combat armor that looked as if he had pulled it from a workshop while it was in the middle of getting serviced!

It was missing several pieces of armor plating throughout its entire exterior. There were many areas where those gaps either exposed other armor layers or exposed circuitry.

Even the latter looked a bit wrong as there were numerous places where it looked as if they used to contain electronic components but looked a lot emptier than they should.

Of all of the people who reacted adversely towards the dramatic changes, the honor guard were the most horrified of all. They were literally honor-bound to protect and guard the patriarch of the Larkinson Clan. To see their charge look as if he had been teleported away only to be replaced by a bad and incomplete copy was one of their worst nightmares!

"SUBDUE!" One of the heavily armored honor guard troopers roared!

The elite bodyguards hailing from the Battle Criers didn't need to be reminded of their duties.

They had studied and practiced so many different contingency plans that they could execute their drills without conscious thought.

Most of the honor guards began to rush towards his seat while the remainder lifted up their heavy assault rifles and kept an eye on the surroundings.

A few of the ones that drew closer lifted their bulky arms and launched thick projectiles that quickly unfolded into nets that quickly engulfed Ves and locked him down in his seat!

This kept him in place long enough for the closest two honor guards to reach his sides and grasp his arms and hands, preventing him from drawing any weapons or grabbing anything dangerous.

The next two honor guards knelt and grabbed onto his two legs and tried to lock the limbs down with all of their considerable might!

The remaining guards that came last performed other duties. A few turned outwards and watched out for any enemies that might possibly target the patriarch.

A few had armed their weapons but did not point them straight towards the figure that looked like Ves. They were ready to fire but would only do so if there was an immediate threat. They kept their muzzles pointed towards the deck for the time being.

Another bunch firmly grabbed hold of the suited forms of Aurelia and Andraste and tried to pull him away from a potential danger zone.

"No!"

"That's our papa!"

Only a single honor guard confronted Ves upfront. Nitaa had opened her thick and intimidating helmet so that she could take a long, hard look at the man she had guarded for many years on a near-daily basis.

"Errr... I know you guys are doing your jobs, but it's me." Ves sheepishly said in a tone that completely contradicted the power flowing through his entire being. "I may have... changed a bit, but there is no reason to overreact."

"If you are not a clone of our patriarch, then you should understand our protocol. We cannot allow you to remain in command until we can thoroughly verify your identity."

Ves had written some of those protocols himself, so he knew that this process could take days!

Many different people would come and talk about old times to see how much he knew. This was not a problem for him, but numerous doctors and other specialists would also examine his body and undoubtedly notice that it had completely changed beyond recognition!

The entire clan would freak out and everyone would continue to suspect his identity until a long time had passed.

Ves couldn't waste so much time!

He not only had to stay in command to ensure the unclean whale suffered the defeat he deserved, but also had to handle the aftermath including the vital looting process.

"Blinky!"

Mrow!

His companion spirit immediately left his head. Though the purple Star Cat had become a lot stronger than before, his appearance remained virtually unchanged.

Though the honor guards around him grew tense for a moment, the sight of his companion spirit also reassured them to an extent.

They knew that no matter how much others tried to clone Ves, it was probably impossible to copy his unique companion spirit, especially since no one else possessed the capability to make them in the first place!

Of course, that did not rule out the possibility that powerful or obscure cults could have copied the method, so Nitaa and the other honor guards weren't completely convinced.

This was why Ves proposed another verification method.

"Nitaa, we don't have time for this. Goldie, come out and tell them who I am!" He demanded!

Nyaaaaa!

A second glow engulfed the bridge as the manifestation of the Golden Cat dove out of the Larkinson Mandate that was attached to Nitaa's heavy combat armor.

The warm and reassuring ancestral spirit happily floated towards Blinky and greeted the competition spirit with a head bop.

Mrow~

Nyaaa~

After that, Goldie continued onwards and licked Ves' face in a familiar and friendly manner.

"Is that enough?"

"It is... sufficient for the time being." Nitaa affirmed as she silently commanded the surrounding honor guard to stop pressing Ves down. "We will continue to keep you under observation. I hope you understand."

"Hey, I completely understand. It is better to be safe than sorry when it comes to matters like these."

It was his own fault for being so paranoid and encouraging his honor guard to think in the same way.

While Ves tried to reassure his guards and the people around him, the situation outside of the Spirit of Bentheim hadn't remained static!

Pretty much every mech with the power to attack from a distance were continuing to bombard the unclean whale that had exposed himself from his position in the depths of the Palace of Shame.

The large and messy asteroid base had taken ruinous damage as countless attacks converging from multiple directions callously drilled through its rocky structure.

All thoughts about preserving the Palace of Shame and its rich reserves of phasewater and other alien loot had disappeared.

Many of the mechs hailing from the Gemini Family, the Golden Skull Alliance, the Adelaide Mercenary Company, the Lehrer Foundation, the Santana Group and the Boojay Family tried their best to overcome the powerful spatial barrier of the unclean whale.

Even their ace mechs brought as much power to bear as possible in an attempt to break the seemingly unbreakable spatial barrier!

"I refuse to be denied by this defense!" Saint Jelmer Osenring roared as his Thunderer Mark II unleashed a blindingly powerful salvo of piercing rounds! "If I can break an orven battleship, I can definitely clean up a wild beast!"

The unclean whale was no mere feral beast, however. The corrupted phase whale did not even flinch when the powerful rounds continued to strike his spatial barrier.

The other ace mechs fared no better.

The Mars for example tried to break the spatial barrier by unleashing all of his ranged and melee attacks at the same time!

The full might of its ARCEUS System, its shoulder-mounted missile launchers, its transphasic axe and its transphasic shotgun stressed the spatial barrier but did little to destabilize its integrity.

The Infinite Gear and the Royal Jeem built up momentum before they charged head-on against the spatial barrier, only to produce slightly larger ripples than before.

The Jedda Sandivar was the least useful ace mech out of the seven as its attack power fell behind due to its light and compact frame.

The Gemini Saints did not hold back in their own efforts to prevent their own family from coming to ruin. They did not hide their trump card this time as the Embodiment of Love and the Embodiment of Sacrifice came together and actually merged as one!

Many mech designers who had the mind to pay attention to the two mechs became astonished as the ace rifleman mech and the ace space knight physically integrated with each other to form a two-seater machine!

Coated in light blue and pink, an exceptionally powerful pink Saint Kingdom surrounded the combination mech.

The twin ace pilots who not only grew up together but made a vow to become eternal lovers resonated with each other to such a powerful degree that it was no longer possible to distinguish one from the other!

The amalgamation of Saint Sandro Gemini and Saint Kaia Gemini had just managed to surpass the threshold of a senior ace pilot, allowing it to exert much more power than any other ace mech!

When the merged Gemini ace mechs lifted its rifle, it unleashed an incredibly powerful resonance-empowered positron beam that soared towards the unclean whale with the wrath of the Gemini Family!

"No!"

Again, the spatial barrier held!

Though the protective field had taken a considerably more damaging hit than before, the unclean whale seamlessly diverted more of his awesome power to reinforcing his defenses.

The former alien prisoner understood that as long as he could stop these strange beings with their oddly-shaped starfighters from punching through his defenses, he could complete his grand weaving without any suspense!

Just as the unclean whale thought that his current adversaries had no way of stopping him from leaving the site of his captivity, he abruptly detected an acutely powerful threat heading straight in his direction!

The giant whale's eyes widened as his powerful senses scanned the entire surroundings.

By the time his phasewater senses detected the powerful but tiny projectile, the unclean whale could barely strengthen his spatial barrier in the right direction!

All of the mech pilots  in the vicinity including the strongest among them recoiled as several powerful spatial shockwaves coursed through the surrounding space!

The spatial barrier that had previously managed to fend off everything the human coalition could throw at it no longer looked as whole as before.

"There's a hole in the barrier!"

Though the humans were disappointed that the unclean whale hadn't lost all of his defenses, it did not change the fact that the monster's defenses had been breached!

"The target has been wounded! There is a small impact crater on his upper left flank!"

The unclean whale unleashed a silent roar as his tentacled body roiled and squirmed as if he had received an injury that was much greater than was obvious!

As several seconds passed by, it became increasingly clearer that the condition of the corrupted phase whale was getting worse!

"The spatial barrier is weakening!"

"The enemy creature's body is exhibiting more signs of stress and pain."

"Our expert pilots are reporting that the aura of the enemy beast is growing weaker and less stable."

"The latest attack has interrupted the phase whale's technique! The spatial fluctuations are already fading. We are not at risk of getting displaced anymore!"

Cheers erupted once the scientists confirmed the news. The tables had turned!

"SLAUGHTER THAT WHALE!"