The Mech Touch

"Nooo!"

"You had a chance!"

"Why didn't you dodge the Ferocious Piranha?!"

"Are we really losing?"

"Someone please kick this dummy Navarro out of our state! He's a disgrace to our biomech industry!"

The Lifers reacted especially vehemently this time.

The process and outcome of the eight match was much more agonizing than the sixth match!

The Epsilon Mosar was at an obvious disadvantage shortly after the beginning. The mech was in such a poor condition that everyone could see that it was only a matter of time before it lost.

This was different. The second bout between the Ferocious Piranha and the Faerie Stinger proceeded much more optimistically at first.

With the modifications that Dr. Navarro made it to the biomech, the Ferocious Piranha was constantly forced to trail behind. The difference in mobility was too significant to allow the slightly heavier LMC mech to overtake its target.

Yet all of that changed in an instant when the Ferocious Piranha overloaded its flight system to such an extent that it exploded less than a dozen seconds later!

The Lifers watched on in disbelief as the Ferocious Piranha suddenly turned into a supermech due to its extreme acceleration. From the moment it collided against the Faerie Stinger and began to stab its dagger into the fleshy frame with wild abandon, much of the onlookers still hadn't processed the rapid turn of events.

Only when the entangled mechs started losing altitude while lots of blood sprayed out from the Faerie Stinger did the locals finally realize what had happened.

Dr. Navarro lost again! Even though Rez Killigan piloted the Faerie Stinger exactly how it was supposed to be utilized, a single modification in the Ferocious Piranha precisely countered the new mode of combat in a single, devastating move.

Since the transition from winning to utter defeat happened to quickly and without warning, the Lifers were truly angry this time!

"The score is 5-3 now! We lost five times! There's no way for us to win more matches now. We can only go even at our best!"

"This design duel is crap! Why are the rules so slanted in favor of the foreigner? Dr. Navarro is forced to fight with one hand tied behind his back!"

"We're embarrassing ourselves in front of the rest of the star sector. Majestic Teal must be laughing at us and our pathetic biomechs right now!"

Just when Ves thought the anger couldn't get any worse, Ves briefly saw a plume of smoke rising from the distance.

"What is that?"

Ves noticed that the Master Mech Designers sitting not too far away no longer held a casual posture.

All six of them had adopted a serious demeanor. Master Werther Cline looked especially concerned. Master Leehay Brixton sent a challenging glance towards the conservative mech designer. The other Masters each held ambiguous expressions.

Venerable Jannzi activated her comm and quickly accessed the news.

"A small ammunition depot in the outskirts of Veoline blew up. The details are scarce, but it's likely that someone deliberately triggered it. No lives have been lost, thankfully."

Unfortunately, this was not the only incident that occurred after the eight match. The news portals rapidly reported numerous different incidents. From mobs of angry Lifers wrecking everything nearby to trying to intrude in places where they weren't supposed to be, the locals were very upset with this situation right now!

Fortunately, the instability was largely confined to Prosperous Hill VI. The local Planetary Guard had already brought in reinforcements beforehand. Emergency response mechs quickly flew out and quickly suppressed the rampaging groups of people by firing sticky webs that forcibly stuck them into place!

The ninth match had to be delayed because of the outbreak of incidents. An official even stepped forward in an attempt to calm the Lifers.

[We know you care about the outcome of this design duel, but please calm down. All of Majestic Teal is watching us right now. We must present ourselves in a good light, and while we understand your passion, please do not lose control. For centuries, the Life Research Association has been a beacon of peace and knowledge! Let us continue to project ourselves according to our values. We are thinkers, not brawlers!]

The incidents died down, but Ves doubted the hasty announcement had anything to do with it. The Planetary Guard was simply too effective at quelling riots. All of Veoline was under their observation. Even indoor riots would quickly be taken care off as a swarm of peacekeeping beetles swarmed into the tree structures and quickly immobilized every troublemaker in mountains of sticky webs!

"Meow!" Lucky responded with a disgusted expression.

"Yeah, I don't want to get webbed by this substance either."

Law enforcement units deliberately utilized disgusting substances to quell fights. Just the threat of getting covered in stinky slime or awful webs was enough to convince many people to behave!

Once spectators in the arena calmed down, the preparations for the ninth match finally resumed.

Two familiar mechs stepped into the field. The Valkyrie Redeemer and the Frokyn met each other yet again.

Ves paid close attention to the Frokyn. The marauder mech genuinely took him by surprise last time. Who could have guessed that the mech was able to grow a lot of hair and utilized it as a shield and grappling tool?

The Valkyrie Redeemer lost unjustly in his opinion!

Now that his mech had a second chance of facing off against the mech that humiliated it, Ves hoped that his changes would have the desired effect.

[Commence the match!]

The two mechs immediately moved! This time, the Valkyrie Redeemer did not move close. Instead, it deliberately flew away while firing its new ranged weapon at the hairy mech.

This time, the Hexer mech did not wield a pulse submachine gun. While it was moderately effective against lightly-armored targets, it was woefully inadequate against any form of strong protection!

In the last match, the pulsed particles fired by the Valkyrie Redeemer turned out to be incredibly useless. The Frokyn's hair blocked every attack before any of it reached the flesh layer.

If the Valkyrie Redeemer ever encountered this situation again, Ves thought of two potential solutions.

The first one was to arm his mech with a weapon that could punch through the Frokyn's hair cover. A gauss rifle would do, but that weapon was too cumbersome for a mobility-oriented machine like the Valkyrie Redeemer.

Ves opted to go for a laser rifle instead. He beefed it up a bit, but it was still relatively weak compared to a positron rifle.

Its requirements were lower, though, so he was easily able to pair it up with his mech.

Right now, Mireilla Linschoten didn't even wait for the Frokyn to grow out its hair. Having piloted the biomech to great effect in her previous match, she knew how insane it could be. She did not want to be on the receiving end of all of that hair!

"Burn! Burn! Burn!"

The Valkyrie Redeemer quickly began to shine a beam of light from its third eye onto the opposing mech. Carter Day soon felt trapped and uneasy, but he gritted his teeth and continued to pilot his mech forward.

As the Frokyn flew on, it did not grow out any hair like everyone expected it to. Its slim and shrunken frame simply flew forward while baring its flesh against the incoming laser beams.

It was not because Carter Day wanted to hold it back. The problem was that the Frokyn wasn't able to grow out any hair anymore!

While a biomech designer could easily design a mech that was able to grow out hair follicles, it was useless most of the time.

Normal hair was too fragile to be utilized in combat!

In order for the Frokyn to generate hair that was tough enough to withstand the rigors of combat, it had to grow them out through an intensive, energy-draining process that weakened the rest of the frame.

While this was a major contributor to the Frokyn's decisive victory in its previous match, the mech wasn't able to repeat this trick!

Ves and many onlookers quickly realized this fact. As the Valkyrie Redeemer employed a kiting tactic to pelt the Frokyn with damaging laser beams, the biomech did not form any special countermeasure to block the attacks.

"What is it up to?" Ves wondered.

The Valkyrie Redeemer wasn't able to outpace the Frokyn for long. The LMC mech had incurred substantial damage in the previous match so its performance wasn't even close to its peak.

When the Frokyn drew near, the mech finally showed what it was capable of. All this time, it held an unusual rifle that had not opened from the start. It was only when it drew close enough that Carter Day finally pulled the trigger!

A large, hairy net flew out of the muzzle! The black net quickly expanded and enveloped the Valkyrie Redeemer in an instant!

"What?!"

The net was apparently made from the same substance of the hair that the Frokyn previously grew. The only difference was that the hair was not under the mech pilot's control.

The hair net acted under its programmed instructions and tightened around the Valkyrie Redeemer. Even though the LMC mech was already succeeding in breaking or cutting through the strands of hair, it was still incapacitated by the time the Frokyn drew close.

The blade of a biometal axe slammed into the head of the Valkyrie Redeemer!

The stricken mech's third eye along with the rest of its head had split apart! Linschoten was briefly disoriented as she was forced to switch to another set of visual sensors to observe her surroundings.

Before the axe managed to strike the Valkyrie Redeemer a second time, the trapped mech quickly dropped altitude.

At he same time, the mech activated its Shock and Awe Pulse while at the same time detonating a Starburst grenade!

"Ah!"

The sharp and deadly axe that was aimed straight at the chest of the Valkyrie Redeemer missed!

It turned out that Mireilla Linschoten had also deactivated the flight system for a moment, causing the Valkyrie Redeemer to drop altitude just enough to evade the attack!

"Break!"

The Valkyrie Redeemer stretched, allowing it to finally break out of the strange net!

Yet just as it had freed itself, the Frokyn pointed its projector weapon at its target and fired another hair net!

"Oh no you don't!"

The Valkyrie Redeemer managed to dodge just enough to spare most of its body from the creepy net. Only its left leg got entangled, but the mech managed to cut away the net easily enough this time.

The Frokyn dropped its projector. Apparently, it had already exhausted its charges. The biomech only clung onto its biometal axe this time.

Seeing that the Valkyrie Redeemer didn't have to worry about getting netted yet again, Linschoten ordered her mech to put away its laser rifle. The mech instead readied its spear and shield.

The feminine mech could have looked quite valiant if not for its ruined head. As it was, the Valkyrie Redeemer did not stay still for long.

It charged!

Even if the mech lost its third eye, its glow and other spiritual properties were not affected. Carter Day still experienced a significant amount of pressure as his Frokyn began to exchange blows against the Valkyrie Redeemer.

The two mechs were even for the moment! The Valkyrie Redeemer technically performed, but its Marked for Death ability ensured that the enemy mech pilot wasn't able to fight at full strength.

"Why isn't the Frokyn winning?"

"It's being piloted just as bad as the last match!"

"C'mon! Finish that woman mech already!"

The crowd grew frustrated again. According to the results of the previous phase, the Frokyn should have beaten the Valkyrie Redeemer handedly. Instead, it just fired a few strange nets before confronting the spear-wielding mech head-on with a simple axe!

Even Ves looked a bit perplexed. Had the Frokyn expended too many resources previously? Why didn't it pull out another rabbit out of his hat?

"Could it be.. there isn't anything special about it anymore?"