The Mech Touch

A shocking outburst took place!

A duel that everyone had written off had produced a completely unexpected development at the end.

Somehow, Joshua Larkinson refused to resign himself to his loss, and single-handedly rewrote reality through sheer willpower!

This was the characteristic ability of expert pilots!

Though Joshua had only just broken through to expert candidate, his promotion was accompanied by a lot of resonance.

So much so that a dam had broken, allowing the new expert candidate to temporarily wield the strength of a higher rank!

Even so, such activities were very strenuous. A violent breakthrough like this was always accompanied with a lot of damage. As soon as the Purgatory Envoy melted the legs of the Fortunate Devil, Joshua basked in his victory.

"I've won. We won!"

Elation suffused his mood as he managed to defeat the MTA in the end. Even though it took an extraordinary amount of effort on his part, he succeeded in fulfilling the expectations set by his benefactor.

The life that suffused his mind and body began to lose strength. He had overstrained his force of will too much. Now that it was no longer necessary for him to maintain this state, the Purgatory Envoy rapidly subsided.

The flickering glow around the mech quickly faded and the mech gradually began to shut down at the command of its mech pilots.

The extraordinary life-based resonance that had formed between the mech, mech pilot and design spirit faded as well.

It had done its job.

As the life around and within the mech faded, the entire incident had come to end.

Soon enough, a team of MTA mech technicians floated into the arena and quickly forced open the cockpit. They pulled out an unconscious Joshua and placed him on a stretcher. A medical officer from the Ubiquitous Force checked him over and intended to bring the young expert candidate back to the ship as fast as possible.

Ves understood the necessity of providing the best care to Joshua. His breakthrough was just as dramatic as the one that Jannzi experienced a few years ago, and back then she was forced to rest in a military hospital for weeks.

With the MTA's excellent standard of care, Ves hoped that Joshua would recover faster and with less side effects.

Every young mech designer who had witnessed the Purgatory Envoy gaining a second life was still in the grip of their astonishment. Not even Jovy, who had witnessed many remarkable sights at the MTA, saw a mech pilot break through in person.

Such events were exceedingly rare, even at the strongholds of the foremost organization on mechs and mech pilots!

The sight of forced resonance dazzled them all. Joshua's furious advancement had made a profound impact on their psyches. The resonance that Joshua managed to evoke also touched their own spirits!

"Well… that happened." Gloriana eventually spoke.

Ves shook himself out of the numerous implications of this unexpected development. "Yes. It seems our Larkinson Clan will welcome a new expert candidate."

Both of them grew happy at the thought of strengthening their clan. Each new expert candidate increased the chance that they would have another expert pilot in the future.

Such strength could not be ignored!

As for Jovy, he was truly stunned. How could he have expected for the champion chosen by his opponent to break through all of a sudden.

"What kind of monster have you been cultivating, Mr. Larkinson?" He asked with shock still running through his bones. "Mech pilots mostly advance to expert candidates in life-and-death battles. It's almost impossible for them to promote when their lives aren't at risk. I have fought more than fifty duels and personally witnessed at least ten times as much. In none of those instances had one of the mech champions achieved a breakthrough. It's too improbable!"

Ves smirked. "As long as there is an infinitesimally chance for someone to break through to expert candidate, it can happen."

As someone who played with probabilities for a living, Jovy could not muster up a response.

While Ves managed to shut up Jovy, that did not mean that Master Willix intended to let matters be! The sudden breakthrough might be a happy event for the Larkinson Clan, but it did not mean that the outcome of the duel had been changed!

"Several minutes ago, I announced the end of the match and declared the victor of his duel." She spoke, causing everyone to shake off their astonishment in order to pay attention to the respected Master. "At that time, the Purgatory Envoy has lost power, causing it to freeze in place for a couple of minutes. In this time, the Fortunate Devil had plenty of time to disable its opponent."

That was true. Even though the Fortunate Devil was a defensive striker mech with lackluster offense, attacking an inert mech was completely different from attacking an active mech!

When a mech lost all movement, it lost the ability to defend itself. Ves knew that the quickest way for the Fortunate Devil to kill his mech in a permanent fashion was to tip the latter over until it collapsed on the arena grounds.

After that, the Fortunate Devil only had to lift its feet and step on the weaker joints of the defenseless Purgatory Envoy.

In fact, if the MTA mech pilot wanted to make an even stronger statement, he could command his mech to place its entire weight onto the chest plating of the downed machine. The sheer amount of pressure applied to the Purgatory Envoy's torso would eventually collapse the cockpit and kill the mech pilot trapped inside!

Naturally, such barbarism would never take place in a formal mech duel. The point of imagining such a hypothetical scenario was to illustrate the fact that Jovy was still the rightful winner of this design duel!

If the Fortunate Devil kept on fighting, Joshua would have never been given enough time to achieve his breakthrough!

"You are right, Master." Ves bowed in order to show his willingness to abide by her ruling. "I am very grateful for the mech pilot of the Fortunate Devil to provide my champion with the space to complete his breakthrough. This result is more than I could have ever hoped for when I accepted Jovy's challenge."

Forget about gaining total ownership of the Darkbreak module. The addition of a new expert candidate to the Larkinson Clan was a much greater prize!

Yet not everyone stood by this ruling.

Even though Master Willix affirmed Jovy as the proper winner of the design duel, the young man himself did not appear jubilant at this announcement.

He felt like he was the one who lost instead of Ves. How could he take pride of his mundane victory when the magnificence that had just taken place overshadowed all of his accomplishments?

Jovy looked up at Master Willix. "While I agree with your interpretation of the events, I would like to object to your ruling."

The Master Mech Designer curiously raised her eyebrow. "Oh? What are your reasons?"

"A design duel is a contest between mech designers. The mechs we design and the mech pilots that we have solicited are part of the contest. When it comes to the design of our mechs, I think my Fortunate Devil is just as good as the Purgatory Envoy. Perhaps my work is even better considering that my specialty has secured a considerable advantage during the match."

"And the mech pilots?"

"In theory, the champion that I have chosen from your staff is better than the champion that Ves has drawn upon. A first-class mech pilot should always crush a third-class mech pilot when everything else is equal. Yet in this, Mr.."

"Joshua Larkinson." Ves supplied.

"Mr. Joshua Larkinson has frankly exceeded the abilities of our own mech pilot, and at a considerable margin at that!" Jovy exclaimed with admiration! "While I'm aware that the circumstances are anything but normal, the fact of the matter is that Mr. Ves has designed a mech that has given Mr. Joshua an opportunity to advance his rank! In this duel, I have not come close to accomplishing the same. Rather than cling to my empty victory, I would rather hand it over to someone who deserves it more."

"I can do so if you wish." Master Willix replied with a serious expression. "Normally speaking, I would never change the outcome of a duel that has already been set, even if something exceptional has taken place. However, I agree with your sentiment. It is very noble for you to elevate yourself above your competitive sentiments and acknowledge the underlying principles behind design duels. Are you sure you wish to retroactively forfeit this duel and access a loss that you are not obliged to bear?"

"...I do." Jovy answered after he firmed up. He turned to Ves and bowed. "Mr. Larkinson, you deserve this glory. In fact, you already carry this glory. I am just carrying it without deserving it. I would feel much more comfortable if I can rectify this situation!"

How was Ves supposed to respond? "Uhm. Okay."

While he had a mind to act humble and reject Jovy's suggestion, Ves did not wish to let go of the prizes he stood to gain if he won!

2,500 MTA credits!

Permanent ownership of an exclusive Darkbreak module!

Both of these prizes were enough for Ves to go mad at any other day. There was no way he was going to shove them aside in an attempt to make himself look good.

He was already looking forward to all of the combat carriers he could acquire with such a hefty amount of money. Though 2,500 MTA credits sounded deceptively small, when converted into hex credits, he could already buy a factory ship half as big as the one that DIVA had just commissioned on his behalf!

Seeing Jovy's sincerity, Master Willix delayed no longer. "Very well. With both competing mech designers in agreement, I declare that the previous winner has forfeited the duel. As a result, Mr. Larkinson is the final winner of this design duel!"

"Congratulations, Ves!" Gloriana clapped her hands. "I always knew you could do it! You deserve this win!"

Ves smiled. He felt incredibly gratified at this turn of events. Though he still felt his victory was undeserved, he did not say anything due to the allure of all of the winnings he stood to gain.

Just as Ves thought that this event had finally passed, Master Willix made a very pertinent remark.

"It's rather curious, Mr. Larkinson. This is not the first time a mech pilot under your employ has broken through to expert candidate. The odds of any mech pilots advancing to expert candidate is quite small in the Komodo Star Sector. You can pick out 100,000 random mech pilots and still not encounter a single expert candidate or expert pilot!"

Uh oh. It appeared that Master Willix recognized a very dangerous pattern!

Ves tried his best to remain calm. "As a former member of the Larkinson Family, I grew up in the company of expert candidates and expert pilots. I dare say that in the Bright Republic, my old family understood expert pilots the best! I have profited immensely from the wisdom of my fellow Larkinsons. I have always tried to facilitate the emergence of mech pilots, especially within my circle."

The Master Mech Designers stared at Ves with an intrigued expression. "Your Larkinson Family does have a history of cultivating expert pilots. Yet when it comes to you, expert candidates seem to emerge at a considerably higher rate than average. Not all of them are Larkinsons, either. First, there is Jannzi Larkinson, a blood cousin of yours who grew up in your family. Then you have William Urbesh, a former guest of the Rim Guardians and a citizen of the Vicious Mountain Star Sector. Now, you can add Joshua Larkinson to your list, an adopted member of your clan. You have facilitated all of their advancements in just the span of a couple of a few years. That is a remarkably stellar achievement, don't you say?"

How was Ves supposed to respond without getting hauled straight to Centerpoint? He quickly glibbed out a quick reply.

"Uh.. all of those pilots you've mentioned adore my mechs. I specialize in meeting the needs of mech pilots. Evidently, my excellent designs along with my powerful proto-gods have succeeded in unlocking their potential. My products are just that good!"

If nothing else, Ves could always resort to shameless bragging!