The Mech Touch

The intervention of the Corundian Giants did not fundamentally solve the disadvantages of the attackers at range.

As much as the protected cannoneer mechs were able to fire at their targets while enjoying the protection of their paired space knights, their damage output was quite limited compared to a true artillery mech.

The Transcendent Punishers were able to inflict three to four times as much damage. They did not have to deal with as many logistical limitations as well, allowing them to do their jobs in a much more sustained fashion.

The attackers decisively ordered their mechs forward. Thousands of melee mechs from both pincers flew forward with rifleman mechs following close behind.

The eleven expert mechs brought by the enemy also followed suit. Their movements already made it clear that the expert pilots intended to support their regular counterparts.

It was too bad that their opponents had different intentions in mind.

Patriarch Reginald Cross scanned the enemy battle lines inside the cockpit of the Bolvos Rage. His powerful expert hybrid mech was surrounded by a boiling red glow that reflected the repressed fury of its pilot.

The Bolvos Rage was an expert mech designed to exact retribution upon the enemy!

His time would come soon.

He completely disregarded the enemy standard mechs. He held little interest in what passed for elites in the Komodo Star Sector. Their long centuries of peace severely curtailed the Friday Coalition's ability to put all of their theories to the test. Virtual combat against other soldiers from the other parts of the galaxy could only teach so much.

As far as the Crossers were concerned, the Fridaymen were still playing at war!

"Their expert pilots aren't that much either." Reginald scoffed.

Although the distance between the two forces was still too far to resolve too many details about the enemy expert mechs, from what he could sense, the Fridaymen did not bring out their best for this battle.

The glows surrounding the eight mechs flying close to the Fridaymen elite mech units were less radiant. Reginald had heard that the Friday Coalition had resorted to employing third-rate expert pilots as their guest expert pilots. He immediately suspected that all 8 Fridaymen expert mechs were piloted by foreigners.

"A state that has stagnated in peace can't even rely on their own mech pilots." Imaris Cross contemptuously remarked over the communication channel. "I can smell the ineptness from these third-rate expert pilots. They aren't accustomed to their recently-issued expert mechs."

Expert pilots had a way of sensing whether other pilots were fully in tune with their mechs. The fluency of movements, the frequency of mistakes and the delay in actions were all telling signs to those who truly knew what it was like to pilot a powerful mech.

So far, the Crosser expert pilots were not impressed by their opposition.

Venerable Linda Cross examined the mechs rather than their pilots.

"Their expert mechs aren't even all that good aside from a couple of exceptions. They're basic and their materials are probably middling at best. The Fridaymen must have been unwilling to expend too much strategic reserves on these extra expert mechs."

"Don't look down on them too much." Patriarch Reginald sobered his mind a bit. "Respect their numbers if you can't respect their quality. Even we may fall into a losing trend if any of us have to fend off two mediocre expert mechs at the same time."

"That's what our helpers are for." Banner Cross said as his Leskin gestured at the thousands of mechs backing them up. "As far as numbers are concerned, we enjoy an absolute advantage!"

Of course, much of the Glory Seeker and Crosser mechs might fall at the end of the day. There was no way the enemy expert mechs would go down without a fight!

Still, as far as the Crossers were concerned, they could mop up the Fridayman expert mechs at their leisure after they took care of their true opponents.

The traitor clans knew quite well that the Cross Clan still retained a handful of powerful expert pilots.

The Praetors and Planats couldn't just send anyone to confront the likes of Patriarch Reginald Cross, who was rumored to be close to advancing to ace pilot!

"I see some old friends have come." The Cross Patriarch grimly spoke as the identities of the Praetor and Planat expert mechs became clear. "Our foes aren't as green as their Fridayman colleagues."

The Planat Clan dispatched just one expert mech, but it was a powerful one.

Reginald made an impulsive decision and attempted to hail the sole Planat expert mech.

Despite all of the interference produced by all of the explosions, weapon discharges and flying debris, a basic communication channel still came into shape.

"Damira." Reginald greeted. "So you've come to finish the job, eh?"

The enemy middle-aged female mech pilot sighed. "For what it's worth, I disagreed with the decision made by the top. We should have fought against the Billard Tribe and the Chardon Tribe until the end. Instead, our elders decided that you Crossers aren't worthwhile friends and comrades-in-arms anymore. Saint Hemmington Cross burned a lot of bridges while he was alive."

Reginald's fury suddenly spiked!

"My father has always treated you Planats well! All of those complaints about the supposed injustices your clan has suffered at the hands of my father are pure excuses. He never neglected the rest of our tribe!"

"Hahaha!" The Planat expert pilot laughed. "You are incapable of recognizing the faults of your tyrannical father. Sure, he rewarded us for our contributions in battle. Sure, the Saint allowed us to grab a decent chunk of conquered territories. Yet that wasn't enough for him. He had to keep going. He had to keep fighting. We were barely finished with burying our dead before your gloryhound of a father pushed us into another war!"

"We had to take advantage of our momentum. We can mourn and rest at any time, but we would never be able to make so much progress if we stopped our conquests midway."

"Your warmonger of an ace pilot completely lost sight of the cost of his victories!" Venerable Damira Planat accused. It seemed her patience was wearing thin! "Do you know the truth behind your Saint's death? We Planats and our fellow Praetors had enough of you Crossers. We didn't want to go down in flames with the rest of you, so we decided to jump ship ahead of time."

Patriarch Reginald's eyes widened as shock started to overtake his fury. "Are you saying.."

"Hehehe." Venerable Damira seemed to enjoy this conversation. "We didn't collude with the Billard Tribe and Chardon Tribe, if that's what you were wondering. No. We did something much simpler. We simply kept track of the positions of their ace mechs and steered Lord Hemmington Cross towards them. I've heard that it was so easy to lead him around the nose because he was always looking for more targets to attack!"

"THIS IS UNFORGIVABLE!" Reginald roared!

The Bolvos Rage burst out in red as its resonance glow intensified! Patriarch Reginald could not handle the supposed truth behind Saint Hemmington Cross' demise!

Red suffused the expert mech's vision as he only had Venerable Damira Planat's expert mech in his sights.

He knew her expert mech well. It was an impressive melee mech with a set of complex transformable melee weapons. They could shift in many different forms according to what Venerable Damira liked to wield in a situation.

Back when the Cross Clan and the Planat Clan were part of the same tribe, Patriarch Reginald had the pleasure of fighting alongside Venerable Damira several times.

She piloted a weapon master mech, which was a special type of melee mech.

He witnessed her incredible mastery in wielding swords, axes, spears, halberds and many other weapon types.

What was even more impressive was that Venerable Damira often changed the shape and configuration of her transformable weapons at a very high frequency.

In one blow, her opponent might be blocking a sword, only for it to transform into an axe that wrenched the shield aside by hooking onto its edge. In another split second, that axe might morph into a spear that instantly stabbed into exposed mech!

This was only the simplest sequence. The Erin Tear was capable of executing millions of permutations!

Anyone who fought her up close would constantly have to be on guard against sudden transformations.

Though Lord Reginald might not be the best expert pilot to face the Erin Tear, he no longer considered all of these matters. He ignored every other factor on the battlefield including his fellow Crosser expert pilots and concentrated all of his fury on the expert mech of the Planat Clan.

His honor demanded that he must defeat Venerable Damira Planat and her Erin Tear in person! He would not rest until his Bolvos Rage chopped its axe straight through the cockpit of the expert weapon master mech!

"YOU MUST REPAY YOUR TREACHERY WITH YOUR BLOOD!" He roared!

The Bolvos Rage accelerated forward like a searing red comet!

"Hah!" Venerable Damira Planat grinned. "If you want to harvest my blood, you have to get past my weapons first! Let me put you down like the rabid dog you are. I will exterminate the remnants of your pathetic clan after this fight!"

Her Erin Tear shot forward like an orange sun!

Venerable Damira was not afraid of her old battle comrade! Even though Patriarch Reginald Cross was considerably stronger than her in terms of resonance strength, she was supremely confident in her chances!

The actions of the two expert pilots triggered the others into moving forward as well!

The Amphis, Venerable Linda Cross expert space knight, steadily flew towards the Trost.

Piloted by Venerable Kelvin Praetor, the Trost was a hybrid mech that excelled in mid-range destruction. It possessed a variety of arms that were exceptionally suited to mow down large amounts of enemies.

Up close, the Trost was armed with powerful flamethrowers that could roast any mech at close range into ashes!

The Trost was too tough to be taken down from range with ease. Venerable Linda already recognized that her Amphis was the best mech to fight against the Trost.

The latter expert mech fared much worse against heavily-armored opponents. The Amphis not only possessed exceptional defense, but also possessed means to mitigate incoming heat and energy!

Venerable Imaris Cross targeted the remaining traitor expert mech. His expert light skirmisher rapidly advanced towards the Imperial Verdict, the expert spearman mech piloted by Venerable Albert Praetor.

The Imperial Verdict was a renowned expert mech that had won many duels with its iconic trident and shield.

Not only was Venerable Albert Praetor a master at wielding the trident, the Imperial Verdict also possessed considerably greater acceleration and agility than was typical of a medium mech.

Only a faster mech such as Venerable Imaris' Conavis Mer was capable of keeping the Imperial Verdict busy!

As for winning the duel, Venerable Imaris had no such intentions in mind. Venerable Albert Praetor excelled at 1-on-1 duels, and so did his expert mech!

That left Banner Cross free to choose his opponents. While he wanted to come to the aid of his fellow Crosser expert pilots, he could not ignore the presence of 8 Fridayman expert mechs.

While the standard mechs of the Glory Seekers and the Cross Clan were already starting to put a lot of pressure on them, his Leskin was needed to contain the Fridayman expert mechs even further!

As Venerable Banner Cross was about to make his move, he instinctively jerked his Leskin to the side as more than twenty resonance-empowered beams raked the area where his mech had just been!

"Tch!"

If his mech wasn't so mobile and possessed such powerful boosters, his mech would have been struck by the sudden attacks!

The Leskin immediately began to retaliate by firing a beam that struck one of the quasi-expert mechs accompanying the Charlemagne!

"I only have one rifle, but that's enough to teach you a lesson!"