The Mech Touch

Captain Chelsea Vidovic and the Penitent Sisters temporarily transferred to the Spirit of Bentheim were not pleased.

They didn't have a problem with taking part in an experiment. No matter how dangerous it might be, they had pledged their allegiance to Ves and the Larkinson Clan. As damned and outcast Hexers, they were very grateful to their new benefactor for offering a path towards redemption.

Their loyalty to Ves was very high, especially since they were under the delusion that he was the son of the Superior Mother!

The Penitent Sisters also didn't have a problem with joining the Larkinson Clan. They knew they had lost the right to determine how they lived and choose which values and traditions they were allowed to keep.

It was rather fortunate for the former Hexers that the Larkinson Clan offered plenty of room for diversity. The Penitent Sisters, but also other groups such as the Ylvainans and the Swordmaidens were allowed to keep many aspects of their unique identity.

For this reason, the Penitent Sisters still identified themselves as Hexers, if a bit softer than before due to the necessity to play nice with the Larkinsons and the altered values espoused by the Superior Mother.

Slowly but surely, the Penitent Sisters became more and more tolerable to Ves and other people who believed that gender didn't determine an individual's worth.

Unfortunately, Ves overlooked the fact that their transformation was still an ongoing process. The Penitent Sisters still retained many of their biases against 'boys'. Even if Venerable Joshua was an expert pilot, the former Hexers still couldn't look past his gender!

Ves really didn't want to deal with this, but if he wanted the Penitent Sisters to cooperate with his experiment, he had little choice but to play nanny again.

He peered impatiently at Captain Vidovic, who appeared to be their spokesperson today.

"You are Larkinsons, are you not?"

The mech captain nodded. "We are both Larkinsons and Penitent Sisters. There is no contradiction between our two identities."

"I beg to differ. When I took you into my clan, I clearly told you all that you need to abide by our rules. One of the rules we hold very dear is that every clansmen deserves to be treated as equally as possible. One Larkinson is not inherently superior to another Larkinson. I am not exempted from this rule either. Strictly speaking, I am just the first among equals."

This was a very important principle to the original Larkinsons. The original Larkinson family was not authoritarian by nature. While the Larkinsons respected expert pilots, they generally ruled by consensus.

It was unrealistic to make everyone truly equal in an organization, especially a larger one like the Larkinson Clan of today. Yet no matter how much power and influence the higher ups accrued, they were still required to abide by the same rules as the lower ranks.

Ves continued to stare in the eyes of the Penitent Sisters. Most Larkinsons gave way to him, but the Penitent Sisters were different. Their strong heritage as Hexers and radical cultists caused them to be a lot stiffer than other Larkinsons.

The Penitent Sisters were always decisive! They never waffled around.

It seemed that Ves would not be able to persuade them with his words alone. He needed to employ a more direct method to set them straight.

He sighed. "So you think that the Valkyrie Prime should be piloted by a woman?"

Captain Vidovic nodded again. "Yes, sir. The mech is clearly a Hexer mech. Why you would put an unrelated male mech pilot inside its cockpit is beyond me. We do not understand why you have passed us over."

"You're not the only ones." Ves chuckled. "Gloriana asked the same question as well. Let me show you why I have assigned the Valkyrie Prime to Venerable Joshua."

He moved forward and gestured for the Penitant Sister mech pilots to follow suit. The group approached the corner of the hangar bay where the Valkyrie Prime and Venerable Joshua stood by themselves.

"Do you know why the Valkyrie Prime isn't being serviced by mech technicians?" He suddenly asked.

"Um, no, sir."

"Look around you. Your mechs are being serviced and readied by the hangar bay crew. As for the Valkyrie Prime, it's only being tended to by a couple of bots."

"What are you trying to convey?"

"If you think you are strong enough to pilot my Valkyrie Prime, then you must first pass its test. Start by moving closer."

They had already moved close enough to get within the range of its glow. The Superior Mother's presence was already strong, but there was still a lot of distance left until they came close enough to touch the machine!

Ves proceeded forward as if he was taking a walk in the park.

The Penitent Sister mech pilots fearlessly followed suit.

As they came closer, they gradually slowed down. The Superior Mother's glow continued to grow thicker and thicker. It was as if they encountered more and more resistance.

This was not because the air became thicker. The actual reason why the female mech pilots struggled to advance further was because the Valkyrie Prime increasingly burdened their mind.

A mech that concentrated over 6000 Ves was not a machine that mortals could endure!

The faces of the Penitent Sisters increasingly reflected their inability to endure the growing mental strain. Each step forward took a greater amount of effort than the last one. Sweat began to drip from their heads!

"We.. can't.. go.. further." Captain Vidovic spoke with difficulty. "Back.. away… sisters…"

The Penitent Sisters soon stepped backwards. This was much easier than walking forward. The greater the distance from the Valkyrie Prime, the more and more relief they gained. At a certain distance, the glow had weakened to the point where the Penitent Sisters could tolerate the strain.

All of them felt ashamed. A pair of boys managed to succeed where a group of devoted female worshippers of the Superior Mother had failed! The Valkyrie Prime was obviously a Hexer mech. Why did the mech reject their approach? Were they.. not worthy enough?

In contrast to the downcast women, Ves casually strode forward until he reached Venerable Joshua's side. He patted the expert pilot's shoulder.

"Are you ready to work together with the Penitent Sisters?" He asked.

"I'm not sure about this, sir." He frowned. "I don't think they like me very much. I've tried to approach them multiple times, but they always huff and sneer at me. Is it fine for us to proceed?"

"There won't be any problem. I'll make sure the Penitent Sisters fall in line." Ves promised to Joshua. "You just focus on your own task. In order to make this experiment succeed, it's crucial for you to bond with the Superior Mother. It's not enough to rely on her to carry every burden. You need to meet her halfway, and to do that, you need to become more immersed in her interpretation of Hexer values. Have you read through the notes I've prepared?"

"Yes, sir. I can't say I am comfortable with embracing these ideas, but I will do my best to synchronize with the Superior Mother."

"That's good enough. We'll see what happens."

Once Ves made sure that his test subject knew what to do, he turned around and returned to the group of Hexer mech pilots.

Their confidence had been completely sapped by the demonstration. Their failure was so clear and evident that no amount of rationalization could excuse their failure.

"I hope you don't have any objections about assigning the Valkyrie Prime to Venerable Joshua."

"We don't understand." Captain Vidovic spoke in a hollowed voice. "Why him? Why not us? Is he the Superior Mother's son as well?"

Ves shook his head. "He may not be a Hexer, but he is still a friend. Not only that, he's an expert pilot, which is the most essential requirement to pilot my new line of prime mechs. As far as I recall, your Penitent Sisters have yet to produce an expert candidate, let alone an expert pilot."

"We are trying our best!" The female mech captain defended her fellow sisters. "We only had a chance to pilot one of your famed mech models after we have returned from the Nyxian Gap. With our new Valkyrie Redeemers, we will definitely catch up to the rest!"

The Larkinson Clan still revered expert pilots. The Penitent Sisters weren't blind to this reality. While they managed to gain some representation at the upper levels through Juliet Stameros, they recognized that this was not enough.

Ves did not discourage them in their current pursuit. Every Valkyrie Redeemer the Penitent Sisters received was enhanced. Most of them started off with 25 Ves while a couple of mechs were boosted to 50 Ves.

Once he made sure that the Penitent Sisters had no further issue Venerable Joshua, he commanded everyone to get into place.

A large number of Valkyrie mechs deployed into space.

Ves just wanted to prove something today. He didn't need to produce the strongest possible result.

Two mech companies of Valkyrie Redeemers formed up with the Valkyrie Prime.

Due to the latter's extremely dense glow, not a single Valkyrie Redeemer dared to move too close to the prime mech.

This was actually quite an interesting interaction to Ves. While the Valkyrie Prime was not meant to debilitate nearby enemies like the Doom Guard and the Ferocious Piranha, its glow effectively produced the same result.

This meant that the Valkyrie Prime enjoyed an overwhelming advantage against any enemies that attempted to fight the prime mech up close!

That was not the advantage that Ves was interested in right now, however.

Gloriana arrived as well and began to operate the workstation as well.

"Do you really think this will work?"

"Believe in me, Gloriana."

He commenced the experiment. He passed on some instructions to the 81 Valkyrie mechs that had flown out into a pocket of empty space.

At the same time, hundreds of Larkinson mechs approached the test site and formed a huge cage around the Valkyrie mechs. Each of them activated a special module held in their hands.

A large cube-shaped energy screen formed around the site. Static and interfering energies scrambled everyone's view of what was taking place inside.

Only Ves and a handful of other authorized Larkinsons had access to the observation data supplied by the mechs and sensor platforms placed inside the test site.

Since the experiment was related to one of the Larkinson Clan's trump cards, Ves did not want others to know what was going on. Not even the nearby Cross Clan was clued in to the test.

A familiar presence took shape among the Valkyrie Redeemers. As their mech pilots prayed to the Penitent Sisters, their battle network became active.

The mechs slowly adjusted their positions until they adopted a specific formation.

Yet even as the Penitent Sister mech pilots synced up to the Superior Mother, Venerable Joshua was still struggling to do the same.

"I can do this!" He gritted his teeth. "The clan patriarch expects me to succeed. I cannot let him down!"

Through sheer willpower, Joshua managed to overcome the resistance that formed as a result of his lack of alignment to the Superior Mother.

A brand new bond between Joshua and the Superior Mother became active as well! Ves had especially forged this bond with great difficulty in order for the expert pilot to lead the Penitent Sisters in this experiment!

The Valkyrie Prime finally joined the battle formation. While Venerable Joshua still retained awareness due to his powerful will, he felt a different influence affecting his judgement and decisions!

The 81 mechs adopted a V-shaped formation. This was the characteristic battle formation that embodied the death phase of existence!

The mechs slowly flew forward. A giant silhouette formed over the formation! The Valkyrie Prime glowed as Venerable Joshua induced as much prime resonance as possible.

What was remarkable was that the silhouette of the Superior Mother actively absorbed the prime resonance generated by the Valkyrie Prime!

The projectors embedded into each and every Valkyrie mechs automatically filled up the glowing silhouette with the lifelike appearance of the Superior Mother!

She appeared greater than how Captain Vidovic and her fellow Penitent Sisters remembered. The glow surrounding the silhouette caused her to appear more powerful and sacred than before! Even the nearby mechs that maintained the scrambling screen felt as if they were facing a true deity!

"Attack!" Venerable Joshua shouted! "Unleash death!"

Seconds later, an enormous V-shaped energy wave passed through the energy screen and launched away into deep space!

The mechs that were closed to this outburst of energy momentarily lost their minds!

The strange wave energy was so powerful that they instinctively felt their minds would collapse if they were hit directly by that broad wave!