The Mech Touch

Ever since the Blessed Squire debuted on the surface of Marrakath III, the Hex Army embraced the new mech model with great enthusiasm.

Not even the hesitation exhibited by the council of matriarchs could stop the adoption of the mech designed by the Miracle Couple.

Its unique benefits amplified the success of the Hexer mech pilots fighting alongside this seemingly-modest supportive knight mech!

With the Fridaymen defenders constantly being put on the backfoot by invigorated Hexer soldiers, the border territories of the Friday Coalition came under threat of Hexer aggression a lot sooner than the Fridayman strategists had anticipated!

And this was just due to a single odd mech model. Everyone could see that the Blessed Squire was just the start. The Miracle Couple had a history of publishing mechs that had the potential to change the way that mech pilots fought their battles. As long as the two unusually talented mech designers pumped out a few more mech designs, the tyranny of glows would probably swamp the Coalition!

Hardly any Fridaymen of importance looked down on the Miracle Couple's work. Many Fridayman strategists and analysts already concluded that they needed to find some way to counter Ves' design philosophy. It took almost no effort for the Hexers to employ glows as a force multiplier.

In fact, in just a few months, the majority of the Hexer military mech pilots had already become 'addicted' to the glows. They began to fight much better in the presence of a Blessed Squire, but also a little bit worse than normal if a glow was absent!

Before the introduction of counters, the Fridaymen mech pilots all learned that taking out the Blessed Squires within the ranks of the enemy was the most effective way to defeat the Hexers.

While the Hex Army units did not make it easy for their opponents to target their critical Blessed Squires, the Fridaymen had already begun to employ various solutions at ranges where the glows could not reach.

These were clunky methods. It forced the Fridaymen to favor ranged combat over close-quarters combat. It limited the options of their fighting forces and directed a lot of resources that could have been spent elsewhere.

All in all, these stopgap measures failed to stall the growing Hexer momentum.

This was why the Coalition tasked a lot of top-level design teams to develop true counters. While it still took up resources to design and produce these specific counters, as long as they proved effective, the Coalition wouldn't have to expend as much resources to counter the Blessed Squire as before.

This was a pretty good deal to the Fridaymen!

"Show me what Master Olson cooked up first." Ves requested. "My former Master knows me best. Her counter will probably serve as a reference on how other mech designers ought to be able to counteract my glows."

Gloriana frowned briefly when she mentioned the Master from the Vermeer Group.

"Master Olson is really shameless for targeting you. Masters normally don't bully their students like this, you know!"

"We're on the opposite sides of a war, Gloriana. She is merely doing her duty to her state."

"She still deserves to be scorned for betraying you! I hope the Hex Army manages to raze the Vermeer Group for her treachery!"

Ves decided it was best not to comment any further on this issue. He deliberately did not point out that Gloriana was at fault here. She was the entire reason why Master Olson cut ties with him and subsequently treated him as an opponent.

Gloriana projected a design of a distinct-looking lancer mech. The mech looked fairly economic relative to other second-class mech designs.

"This is the mech designed by a team led by Master Olson." She began. "It's called the Glow Crusher OGC-1000."

Ves studied the design schematics with great interest. He wasn't surprised that Gloriana had access to such detailed design files. The Hexer intelligence services probably obtained it within days or weeks of the Glow Crusher's release.

Leaving aside its purpose and distinctive features, the Glow Crusher design was a magnificent work. Master Olson designed mechs in a way that was elegant and efficient. Ves knew that he and his fiancé were far from reaching this degree of sophistication!

"What a well-designed mech!" He sighed. "Sure enough. A Master Mech Designer can easily surpass us in pure design ability alone. The degree of performance that Master Olson can achieve with such a limited budget is astounding!"

"Hey!" Gloriana angrily punched his arm. "Don't get all googly-eyed by the work of our enemy! This mech is causing my fellow Hexers a lot of grief on the battlefield!"

Ves tried to see how the Glow Crusher was able to counter a Blessed Squire.

Of all of the mech types that Master Olson chose, he was surprised that she opted for a melee mech. These days, the Hex Army treated its Blessed Squires like treasures. None of them stepped onto the battlefield without being accompanied by their own guards.

This was actually pretty ridiculous to Ves. He initially conceived the Blessed Squire as mech that was meant to take a beating. It was piloted by boys, after all. Before its introduction, the Hexers always valued their female Hexer mechs more!

"I don't see how this so-called Glow Crusher mech can neutralize a Blessed Squire." He murmured after some time. "Sure, in a one-on-one duel, the Glow Crusher can just charge forward and impale the Blessed Squire on its lance. In practice, this is never the case. The Glow Crusher has to go through at least one defensive line in order to attack any Blessed Squire mech."

Gloriana nodded. "You're right. As efficient and optimized as the Glow Crusher design looks, the chances of this mech running down a Blessed Squire is low, at least in the early stages of a battle. Later on when the Fridaymen have worn out the defenders, a Glow Crusher may be able to get a straight shot at impaling a Blessed Squire."

"It's too late by then. The Blessed Squire should have remained active up to this point. The Hexers gained plenty of advantages during this lengthy period."

"This is also true. I do have to mention that the Glow Crusher aren't designed to be deployed by themselves. They are relatively cheap because they are meant to be deployed in greater numbers."

He could see how that could make a considerable difference. A single Glow Crusher charging forth was hardly intimidating to the typical Hexer unit. It was a different story if an entire mech company of Glow Crushers rushed a Hexer position!

Nonetheless, he still hadn't figured out what made Master Olson's work so effective against the Blessed Squire.

With a name as plain and brutal as the Glow Crusher, the model was meant to restore confidence to the beleaguered Fridaymen mech pilots. It would be a disaster if the mech model failed to live up to its name!

"This design is not as simple as you think. There's more to the mech than what is obvious on the surface. Can you see what gives this mech the ability to counter the Blessed Squire?"

He already observed some unusual traits from the Fridayman mech design. These unique traces denoted the areas that high-ranking mech designers empowered with their design philosophies.

"The engines and movement systems clearly stand out to me. When I try to look at them closely, I begin to get a headache."

It was not so easy to decipher the inner workings of other mech designers. While rational mech designers possessed the ability to simulate someone else's design philosophy, they didn't always achieve success. Otherwise, Master Willix would have succeeded in replicating his design philosophy!

"I don't get it." Ves sighed after trying and failing to decipher the meaning of what Master Olsosn had imparted to the Glow Crusher design. "Can you just show me instead of teasing me like this? I'm dying to know what makes it so special!"

"Very well. There's plenty of footage available. I've selected some of the clearest ones for you. Watch carefully."

The first footage showed a typical urban battlefield on some Coalition planet. A lot of structures had been flattened by incessant bombardment and fighting.

At a certain supply depot, a unit of Hexer mechs were trying to overrun the defenders. Ves recognized the emblem of the Carnegie Group's Fortune Legion from the resisting mechs.

Though the Fortune Legionnaires put up a valiant fight, they were slightly outnumbered and fought with much less zeal than their Hexer counterparts.

Just as the Hexer melee mechs succeeded in collapsing the defensive line, a squad of reinforcements appeared from the flanks. The eight lancer mechs were all armed with long lances and kite shields.

The Hexer mechs were initially caught off-guard, but quickly redirected some mechs to engage the newcomers.

Ves paid close attention to what happened next.

As expected, the Glow Crushers did not back off. They all charged forward, building up a lot of momentum in a short amount of time. Not just their powerful legs, but also the boosters built into their rear made sure that the lancer mechs got up to speed without much delay!

As the new Fridayman mechs neared the closest Hexer mechs, something odd happened.

The Hexer mechs assigned to block the lancer mechs all jerked for some reason. Though the interruption was minor, the lancer mechs already ran through them by the time their Hexer mech pilots recovered!

"Huh?"

Ves wasn't stupid. He could tell that as the Glow Crushers neared the enemy mechs, the glow exerted from a nearby Blessed Squire somehow failed to cover the affected mechs.

How?

While he wondered what had happened, the footage hadn't ended yet. Not all of the Glow Crushers had stopped after impaling their lances on their unbalanced opponents.

Two more mechs designed by Master Olson proceeded onwards to attack the critical Blessed Squire!

A second defense line consisting of some Hexer knight mechs stood ready to meet the charges with their heavy tower shields.

Ves estimated that even if the charging Fridayman mechs managed to pierce through the shields of the enemy mechs, they shouldn't be able to go any further. The Blessed Squire should remain safe if that was the case!

However, just as the new mechs neared the Blessed Squire, Ves faintly sensed as if something significant occurred.

From the way the Hexer mechs all reacted abnormally for a moment, Ves knew that the Blessed Squire's glow no longer affected the entire unit!

"So this is why this model is called the Glow Crusher!"

What happened next surprised him as well. Instead of continuing on, the two Glow Crushers forked away and beat a very hasty retreat!

The Glow Crushers had done their job. Somehow, the lancer mechs managed to break the Blessed Squire's glow once they came close enough. As soon as they accomplished this job, they disengaged and let the other Fortune Legionnaires resume the fight.

While Ves was a bit confused why the Glow Crushers didn't continue to pressure the Hexers, it turned out that their presence weren't needed anymore.

Surprised and alarmed at the sudden loss of their Blessed Squire's glow, the confused Hexer mech pilots fought with a lot less enthusiasm than before.

For their part, the Fortune Legionnaires regained a lot of confidence. Not only were their opponents fighting significantly worse, they didn't have to fear anything if they fought their opponents at close range!

The final result was a complete rout for the Hexers. The surviving Hexer mechs pathetically ran back to friendly lines after losing over half of their attacking force.

The footage ended.

Ves remained silent for a time. The performance of the Glow Crusher completely surprised him, and not in a good way.

"How?" He asked with a hollow voice.

"Master Olson's new mech design is called the Glow Crusher for a reason, Ves. As far as we can ascertain, these mechs don't have to impale the Blessed Squires in order to fulfill their function. They only have to get within a certain range to overwhelm a glow! Once this happens, it takes up to ten minutes for a Blessed Squire to repair its glow!"

Ten minutes! This was enough time for the Fridaymen to swing a battle around!