The Mech Touch

The battle had taken on a crazy turn again!

Just when the expeditionary fleet thought it had gained a decisive advantage after unleashing one of the killer moves that Ves had in reserve, the defeat of the enemy strike force seemed to be set in stone.

Once the Bloody Herons, the Holvein Grenadiers, the Silent Swords and the other elite units had been wiped out to the last mech, the outcome of the battle shouldn't have been in doubt anymore.

Yet to the amazement of Ves and everyone else in the expeditionary fleet, the desperate Fridaymen seemed to have gained a second wind.

After shaking off every inhibition, the liberated mech pilots fought without regard of their lives or any other irrelevant concerns.

The mission had to be completed!

The soldiers could never allow themselves and their comrades to sacrifice their lives in vain. After incurring so much damage and suffering so many deaths, it would be the biggest shame if their primary objective remained unfulfilled.

The Fridaymen mech pilots fought with renewed vigor, if only to finish the job they were meant to perform.

This was their purpose!

This was how they were trained to fight!

They did not decide to fight to the death unknowingly.

They fought knowing full well that their efforts would have a profound impact on the future of their state.

The Friday Coalition must survive and win the Komodo War! Only then will this battle and their deaths have meaning!

"Do not fear death, friends! Our lives are incredibly short compared to the timeline of the cosmos. What does it matter to die a few decades ahead of time? It is only a blink of an eye from a cosmic point of view!"

"We are men!" Another mech pilot cried out as his mech pierced its spear straight into the chest of an opposing Avatar mech. "These enemies do not want us to lift up our heads anymore. Each and every one of our sordid opponents want nothing less but to emasculate the brave boys and men of the Coalition. If you have any decency left as a man, then stand up now and fight for equality and justice!"

Even though the outnumbered and increasingly more deranged mech pilots and mech officers were crowding the communication channels with lots of nonsense, their words inspired their fellow soldiers even further.

This was no longer a battle of wits!

What tactics? What formations? What maneuvers?

They already tried all of that and failed to gain the upper hand! The enemy may be inferior in terms of mechs and mech pilots, but the trump card unleashed by the Larkinson Clan had changed everything!

Against such an illogical and unreasonable attack, no amount of calculated tactics and strategies availed the Fridaymen anymore.

Only grit and determination availed them now, and it worked!

The sudden burst of ferocity took all of their opponents aback. The remnants of the Holvein Grenadiers, the Silent Swords and even the Corundian Giants took the lead and physically collided against the opposing mechs to forcibly swing the momentum back in their favor.

"We can't back off any longer! As long as we keep giving ground, they'll keep suppressing us with their numbers even further. Let us push into their lines and turn their own mechs into obstructions!"

The Holvein Grenadiers simultaneously threw their last grenades forward. They even gave up their final grenades which they usually reserved for their final moments!

The thunderous explosions blasted many of enemy mechs barring their way!

It did not matter if the expeditionary forces had pushed a wedge in the Fridayman formation. It didn't matter if the survivors were getting increasingly more outnumbered.

As long as the elites left standing occupied the opponents all around them long enough, they wouldn't have the opportunity to reinforce the depleted mech units that had been assigned to stop the Fridayman expert mechs in their tracks.

This meant that the breakthrough attempt by the expert mechs had a much higher chance of succeeding!

"Come on, Grenadiers! Come on, Silent Swords! Come on, Corundian Giants! Will you shame our mech regiments like this? Advance forward with me and avenge our fallen comrades!"

The battle spirits of the surviving Fridayman elites had spiked so suddenly that they had forcibly taken back the initiative they had lost.

One of the stars of the show was the Bloody Heron space knight that was undergoing forced resonance.

Although the surviving mech pilot wasn't abnormal enough to evoke complete resonance, the forced resonance enveloping the mech was so strong that it functionally became as strong as an expert mech, at least for the moment!

Even though defensive mechs such as space knights were famed for their lack of killing efficiency, once they reached the expert level, all of that changed.

Against a large quantity of normal mechs, the temporarily empowered space knight fought as if it was a god that had descended onto the mortal plain!

When it swung its sword, a large resonance blade extended many meters beyond the tip, allowing it to slice apart weaker mechs that thought they were firmly out of reach.

When the space knight moved, it accelerated considerably faster than what its design should be capable of. The abundant power of forced resonance granted the recently-advanced expert candidate the power to warp reality in his favor.

This was one of the most powerful and most sacred moments  that mech pilots could ever enjoy in their lives!

There was no explanation of how forced resonance was able to channel so much power in a manner that comprehensively boosted the performance of regular mechs. Uncontrolled energy was very destructive, yet this strange phenomenon was capable of directing all of that power in an intelligent way that just so happened to turn a normal space knight into an unstoppable engine!

It was as if the resentful dead of the Bloody Herons had attached themselves to the mech in order to help their surviving comrade exact as much payback as possible!

Of course, all of this power was not limitless. Forced resonance only lasted for a varying amount of time depending on the accumulation of strength, so the space knight pilot who had turned into an expert candidate knew he needed to make the most of this precious moment.

The more he kept his surrounding opponents busy, the more his efforts contributed to the completion of the mission!

"I have to last." The expert candidate gritted his teeth. "My mech won't be able to make it much longer."

The Bloody Herons were equipped with excellent and highly-robust mechs. Their space knights were tougher and could take a lot more punishment than other mech types.

Yet the mech that was currently glowing according to the will of the surviving Bloody Heron had already been through an arduous battle beforehand. Its frame was already damaged in some portions, and the incredible stresses that it was currently going through to maintain the forced resonance state wasn't making matters any better.

The expert candidate's wondrous connection to his mech already allowed him to know that his overburdened space knight was destined to collapse once the after-effects of his breakthrough ran their course.

Once that happened, his defenseless mech would definitely be subject to lethal retaliation.

It didn't even matter whether the expert candidate was able to eject from his cockpit beforehand. His opponents would never allow an expert candidate to flee to safety.

"Get out of the way!"

The Bright Spear Prime suddenly charged forward while driving its spear forward. While the mech was not designed to be a lancer mech, it was still capable of empowering its stabs with forward momentum!

The Bloody Heron pilot instinctively felt a threat from the opposing mech. Even though it did not appear to be a genuine expert mech, the mech had already felled many Fridaymen mechs by abusing its abnormally strong glow.

Even the expert candidate felt pressured by the Bright Spear Prime's dense glow!

"Tch!"

The space knight actually chose to evade the charge at the last moment! Once the Bright Spear Prime missed its charge, the glowing Bloody Heron mech slammed the surface of its shield against the prime mech.

The silent crunch forcibly threw the Bright Spear Prime aside! Even though its Unending armor plating did not exhibit a single dent, Venerable Rosa Orfan still felt a bit dizzy from the sudden shock.

"You damn Fridayman. Accept your defeat already!"

The scrappy Bright Spear Prime advanced towards the empowered space knight and began to launch a series of stabs. The target easily fended off the one-directional attacks with its shield. It even managed to retaliate by swinging its sword at the prime mech!

When the extended blade formed out of forced resonance struck the spearman mech, the resonance shield popped in an instant. The Unending alloy managed to repel the attack, but not before inflicting some form of damage to the energy stored inside the alloy.

"Ahhh!" Venerable Orfan cried out in pain as she felt as if her current opponent had managed to hurt the Bright Beam Prime on a deeper level! "Don't get hit by that resonance blade! It's too powerful. Not even the armor of my prime mech can withstand the damage!"

The prime resonance acting upon the Bright Spear Prime visibly weakened. The Bloody Heron pilot also sensed that his attack had inflicted real damage onto the spearman mech. The threat he sensed from the opposing machine had dropped!

"Hah! I'll just have to hit you over and over again if this is the case!"

The difference between a prime mech and a mech empowered by forced resonance became very clear.

The latter immediately gained the upper hand against the former! Even though Venerable Orfan was unquestionably the better mech pilot, the Bright Spear Prime was closer to a standard mech than an expert mech. Many of its performance characteristics simply couldn't keep up with the moves that she wanted to perform.

As a result, the mech that performed much closer to an expert mech at this time immediately managed to land continuous hits on the Bright Spear Prime!

The only response that Venerable Orfan could make was to make sure that her unstoppable opponent did not manage to stab a blade through the joints and other weak points of her prime mech.

Her efforts barely allowed her Bright Spear Prime to remain intact. Even so, her mech seemed to scream every time it came in contact with the enemy's resonance.

Forced resonance was unquestionably more powerful than prime resonance!

"Damnit, where's my support?!"

Even though all of the shield bashes, kicks and sword slashes failed to break apart the Bright Spear Prime, its internals were already starting to malfunction from all of the shocks they endured. These components weren't made out of Unending alloy so they were unable to withstand so much abuse!

Just as the empowered space knight accelerated forward at an unreasonable level for a defensive mech, it suddenly turned around and braced its shield just as a pair of daggers clanged against the surface!

"It was worth a try!"

The Piranha Prime had arrived!

The light mech did not look in good shape anymore. Previously, it had constantly harassed and worn down the Fridayman elites. While its superior mobility allowed it to evade many attacks, it was not able to avoid everything. Its ruined coating, blackened surface and precarious-looking flight system showed that not even Unending alloy could guarantee the mech's safety.

Fortunately, now that two prime mechs were ganging up on the mech piloted by the newly-advanced expert candidate, the rampaging space knight was much more contained!

The Bright Spear Prime looked listless and faded after suffering several corrosive resonance attacks. Yet Venerable Orfan did not lose any of her battle spirit. She looked forward to any clash against any challenging opponent, and this one happened to be just close enough for her to deal with at the moment.

As for the Piranha Prime under the control of Venerable Tusa, it constantly tried to face the back of the space knight. Even though the light skirmisher did not launch too many attacks, just the threat it posed was enough to make the Bloody Heron pilot feel shackled in his actions.

"You dishonorable Larkinsons!"