The Mech Touch

The fourth match featured one of Ves' most iconic mechs.

The Valkyrie Redeemer had captured the imagination of many people in the Komodo Star Sector. Even foreigners who paid attention to foreign affairs envied the Hexers for being able to make use of a mech with so many capabilities.

The mech had already played a starring role in the Komodo War. Many female Hexer mech pilots dreamed of piloting the spear-wielding machine in combat. Those that did always felt blessed as their minds directly came in touch with the presence of the Superior Mother.

Not a single unit that deployed Valkyrie Redeemers suffered from morale problems!

In fact, the commanders frequently had to rein in their subordinates because they had grown too enthused with charging their mechs forward.

The Valkyrie Redeemer and its variants always performanced at their best when on the attack!

Aside from the Hex Army, the Golden Skull Alliance also adopted the same mech model.

Both the Glory Seekers and the Penitent Sisters used the Valkyrie mechs to good effect during the last battle. The Penitent Sisters together with Venerable Joshua even used this mech to pull of the most extraordinary feat of the Battle of Reckoning.

Now, the Valkryie Redeemer made another appearance outside of the raging battlefields of the Komodo War.

The moment this mech showed in the dueling ring, many women became captivated by the feminine mech. The Valkyrie Redeemer exuded a sense of feminine strength that felt strangely empowering to those who identified with its gender.

Many female mech pilots felt the irrational urge to pilot it in battle!

Even a couple of men felt attracted by the mech!

"So this is the highly-regarded Valkyrie Redeemer." A visiting mech designer spoke. "I can see why it has managed to conquer the hearts of those bigoted women. A mech like this appeals to some of their greatest desires and aspirations. Mr. Larkinson is an excellent marketer."

Indeed, a lot of people regretted that the LMC didn't sell the Valkyrie Redeemer to the public. Not even stealing or copying helped. Its anti-theft systems were so good that any non-Hexer would have a very hard time interfacing with a living mech that was unwilling!

Yet that was what made the current sight so odd to those who were familiar with the remarkable mech model.

For the first time, the Valkyrie Redeemer was being piloted by a mech pilot who wasn't a Hexer or a Larkinson.

Not only that, but the mech pilot in question was very obviously a man instead of woman!

"Hehehe. If you think that this little trick can fool me, then think again." Ves grinned.

The mech pilot selected to fight with the Valkyrie Redeemer was a Lifer mech pilot called Carter Day. Compared to the military mech pilots of the last two matches, Carter appeared to be a bit.. underwhelming.

He was just an average employee of a local security company. Since Prosperous Hill VI was so strictly regulated, the security companies based in Veoline didn't get to do much. Only a couple of mechs were allowed to escort or guard certain facilities at a time so there wasn't much work available.

The lack of mechs also meant that there were remarkably few mech-related incidents. Carter Day could count on one hand how many times he fought an actual battle throughout his 20 year career!

A male mech pilot who pursued a steady job and didn't have much actual battle experience should have been a poor fit with the Valkyrie Redeemer.

However, as the battle commenced, Carter had little difficulty with adjusting to the quirks of his new mech and quickly began to utilize it in a proficient manner!

His battle experience might be lacking, but his basic skills were highly-polished. He was still a second-class mech pilot, and that counted for something. By practicing and keeping up his skills over a long period of time, his fundamentals were pretty solid.

At the start of the battle, the Valkyrie Redeemer performed a little too rigidly. It was as if the mech was fighting while covered in rust. Yet as Carter began to ease into the peculiarities of the mech, he slowly became more fluid in controlling the famed mech.

He even learned how to utilize one of its distinctive features! When the third eye of the Valkyrie Redeemer came to life, it shone a beam of light straight onto the opposing biomech!

The moment the beam struck the mech designed by Dr. Navarro, its flight hitched for a moment.

The infamous glow of the Valkyrie Redeemer had reached out several hundred meters in order to pin the mech pilot of the opposing mech with an unsettling sensation of doom!

Even though this glow was not as debilitating as the glow of the Ferocious Piranha at close range, it definitely unbalanced the target!

This caused the current match to play out similarly to the last one.

There were differences, though.

The biomech that was piloted by a woman called Mireilla Linschoten was also a marauder mech. The Frokyn possessed a more offensive focus. It eschewed a shield in favor of wielding a powerful biometal axe or a potent positron rifle, which gave it a lot more deadliness at range or up close.

Mobility-wise, the Frokyn was roughly just as fast and agile as the Valkyrie Redeemer. Its defenses may be a little worse due to its inherent organic properties.

This was why the mech was able to hit back hard even when it was trying to maintain its distance. Mireilla may not be a stellar mech pilot either, but she was a lot better at marksmanship than wielding axes.

As long as the Frokyn remained distant, the focused glow of the Valkyrie Redeemer couldn't do more than plague her with illusions!

"I won't fold!" She gritted her teeth.

Though she admiringly maintained her courage despite constantly being subjected to the sensation of being stared at by a monstrous presence, her performance definitely suffered.

As the two mechs chaotically danced in the air, many of the Frokyn's shots went wide. While its positron rifle was capable of inflicting serious damage, it took a lot of time to achieve a result if only a handful of beams was able to strike the Valkyrie Redeemer for more than an instant!

In fact, the beams that did train on the Valkyrie Redeemer were usually blocked by its hexagonal shield.

Yet when the beam managed to score a hit, the Valkyrie Redeemer gained a serious-looking scar. Even though its armor was rated to withstand the rigors of all-out warfare, the rifle that Dr. Navarro added to the Frokyn design a quality weapon that was notable for hitting hard!

Even though the energy consumption of the positron rifle was just as impressive, that didn't matter too much in a duel environment!

"I'll burn through your shield eventually!" Mireilla Linschoten declared.

The Valkyrie Redeemer possessed comparably less firepower. It was armed with a relatively weak pulse submachine gun that was inaccurate at longer ranges. The mech fared best when it was fighting up close.

Even so, being able to fire at the flight system of the Frokyn was a massive advantage. If this went on, even a weaker weapon was able to knock out the flight capabilities of a powerful mech!

Linschoten obviously knew this. The last match already illustrated that mechs never seemed to run out of energy to maintain their glows. Outlasting them was unfeasible.

"Should I get close or should I maintain my distance?"

Many people could see her dilemma. They didn't know how much pressure it took to fight against the Valkyrie Redeemer up close, but it seemed that it wasn't easy to confront it at range either.

Gloriana looked confused from the moment the match began. She stared at the Valkyrie Redeemer that Ves had especially prepared for the design duel.

It was one thing for Venerable Joshua to be able to pilot the Valkyrie Redeemer. He was not only an expert pilot, but someone who possessed a great affinity with living mechs.

This was different. She was pretty sure that Pilot Day was a male mech pilot, and not an exceptional one at that. Yet this man didn't even have to exert a lot of effort to be able to pilot the Valkyrie Redeemer fluently!

"How did you do it?" She asked.

"It's complicated." Ves curtly replied. "My mechs aren't as inflexible as you think. Even the mechs I've designed for the Hexers can be open-minded if I wanted them to be. You overlooked the fact that my Hexers mechs are designed by us, not the Hexers."

What Ves believed was different from what the Hexers believed!

The Superior Mother who exerted a huge influence on the mechs was also different from a traditional Hexer!

It was therefore relatively easy to tweak some aspects of his Valkyrie Redeemer and alter its scope to welcome male mech pilots as long as they served a greater cause.

Since Carter Day was fighting on behalf of Ves in a significant design duel, why should the Superior Mother hinder his efforts?

She should be supporting the Lifer mech pilot instead, and that was exactly what she was doing!

It took a personal request from Ves to alter her treatment, but he could see the results. The Valkyrie Redeemer was flush with energy and seemed to have become alive!

One of the consequences of this was that the Valkyrie Redeemer was remarkably accurate in its fire. Its pulse submachine gun might not fire any powerful energy particles, but a lot of them managed to hit the flight system of the Frokyn.

The incessant hits wore away the protective layers surrounding the flight components. Even though the Frokyn's powerful positron beam attacks had almost worn away the Valkyrie Redeemer's shield, the Hexer mech itself was still in decent shape!

It was at this time that Mireilla Linschoten decided to alter the situation before the flight system of her mech incurred real damage.

After activating a special command, the Frokyn's fleshy body suddenly rippled. Thick hair follicles started to emerge from its entire frame!

The black hair grew so rapidly that the mech quickly went past the level of a gorilla and turned directly into some kind of bushy monster!

"What the hell is that?!" Ves sputtered in shock!

The inexplicable sight completely dumbfounded the Larkinsons. Even the Lifers looked a little confused, but they were less shocked by the sight than others.

Biomechs were often known for being able to activate strange abilities!

As soon as all of the hair had formed around the mech, It turned around and attempted to close into melee range!

Though Carter Day was a bit reluctant to confront a very bushy mech, he did not have any choice. His Valkyrie Redeemer kept firing its submachine gun but also drew out a spear in order to get ready to fight up close.

As the transformed Frokyn flew close, it chopped with its axe!

The Valkyrie Redeemer dodged the telegraphed blow and attempted to thrust its spear into the biomech, only for the hair to react and entangle the weapon!

"Let go!"

The hair stubbornly prevented the Valkyrie Redeemer from pulling back its weapon. Even though it couldn't hold onto the spear forever, the Frokyn gained enough of an opening to launch a counterattack!

Yet before its axe could strike a telling blow, the Valkyrie Redeemer ejected a Starburst grenade which exploded in their midst.

At the same time, the mech also unleashed its Shock and Awe Pulse that caused an intense enough reaction from the biomech to allow the Valkyrie Redeemer to disengage.

The two mechs separated for a bit, but the Frokyn did not remain deterred for long. As soon as Mireilla Linschoten recovered from the disorientation, she drove her hairy mech forward once again!

"Why are you running? Is my mech that scary? It's just a little bit of hair!"

For a moment, the match turned into an odd spectacle. The Valkyrie Redeemer, which was normally known for its aggressive charges, was trying its best to stay out of the range of a hairy mech!