The Mech Touch

Ketis suddenly realized that there was more to her living sword intent than she initially realized.

The 'pet' that Ves created in her mind was not just a personification of her sword intent. She already knew that its nature was beyond her understanding, but she always figured its purpose was relatively simple.

Aside from keeping her company, Sharpie also assisted her in performing her superpower and deepening her insights into sharpness.

Its presence constantly inundated her mind with sharpness, allowing her to develop a more profound feel for the concept.

In turn, as her comprehension of sharpness continued to rise, Sharpie grew even sharper.

In essence, Ketis formed a mild positive feedback loop with Sharpie. Their symbiotic relationship meant they constantly stimulated each other.

She was well aware that she was probably the only mech designer who possessed this unique advantage. The gift that Ves had given to her was such a splendid boon that she would have never been able to progress her nascent design philosophy so much without its assistance!

Ketis conveniently ignored the fact that Ves treated her like a test subject.

Ever since she obtained Sharpie, she always assumed that her sword intent only came in a single form.

Yet today, she discovered that this assumption was wrong!

Sharpie was capable of shifting its focus from sharpness to annihilation. It was as if her intangible pet had exchanged one coat for another. The effect this had on her mentality and superpower was groundbreaking!

"This is impossible."

Even though she had only come in touch with the local swordsmanship tradition for a short amount of time, she knew it took years or decades for even the most devoted swordsmen to achieve this effect!

She was well aware that even the best prodigies had to master a sword style step by step in order to dig out its full potential.

Many other swordsmen invested an even greater amount of time, only to come away with nothing! Interim Director Fred Walinski was a little luckier than most people by being able to drag himself to the level of a pseudo-sword initiate.

It took at least half a century of constant training and practice for him to be able to reach this point!

Compared to Fred, the progress that Ketis made was so ludicrous that she couldn't even begin to explain.

She only read and contemplated the scriptures for a couple of hours. Throughout all that time, she hadn't been able to accept their concepts.

Logically speaking, that should have prevented her from channeling the power of annihilation.

Yet the abnormally smooth and straight cut through a solid stone wall proved otherwise.

She looked blankly at Shiva, the weapon that had once again become a vessel that had brought the Annihilator Sword Style to life.

Everything that had happened just now had an undeniable connection to Sharpie. Though a part of her felt terror at the unfathomable and uncontrollable nature of an entity that occupied a part of her mind, Sharpie quickly took off its annihilation coat and put on its familiar sharpness coat again.

Her sword intent felt much more familiar to her again. Her suspicions faded away. A smile appeared on her face.

"No matter what you, you'll always help me, right?"

Swish!

That was enough for her. Sharpie was still a part of her, and she was a part of Sharpie. Neither of them could exist without the other.

"We're two sides of the same coin."

A day later, the Swordmaidens returned to the arena. While their participation in the mech combat tournaments were close to ending, they still had some fight left in the personal combat tournaments.

Ketis was scheduled to fight in two different matches. In the morning, she would be entering the arena by herself. In the afternoon, she had to win a group match.

The Swordmaidens planned to debut her new identity through these two matches.

"You are not just Ketis Larkinson the Swordmaiden and mech designer anymore. Your battle garb should reflect that." Fred Walinski said as he tapped the protective suit issued by the arena and caused it to project an image over the chest area.

The emblem depicted a planet that had been cleaved apart by an enormous sword!

Ketis stared dazedly at the symbol that represented the Annihilator Sword School. She had only seen projected emblems like these on the protective suits of other seeded competitors!

"Hey, don't be nervous. You are the interim director of the Annihilator Sword School and a citizen of the Heavensword Association. I called in every single favor I had left in order to rush the applications. Everything is official and final now. While I haven't been able to convince the government that you're qualified to be a sword initiate, you can take care of that yourself by showing off your power in the arena. The public will decide."

Commander Sendra came close and patted Ketis on the shoulder. "Don't forget our plan. You're the star now, so act like it. People won't take you seriously if you don't have the swagger to back up your new identity."

"I… will try my best."

The transition was too abrupt. Ketis didn't have enough time to process all of the rapid changes.

For so long, Ketis always viewed herself as a background character. Compared to more brilliant personalities such as Ves and Gloriana, she was merely the mech designer obsessed with swords.

Now that she was asked to step into the spotlight, she felt the light was unbearable. She wasn't used to facing the galaxy by her own merits!

"This isn't me." She said. Her nerves were already starting to get to her. "I'm not cut out to be famous. I'd rather just be one Swordmaiden among many!"

"Hey!" Sendra pulled her in a bear hug. "There's nothing to be afraid about! You're a fighter, not a coward. You wouldn't have become a sister of ours if you only knew how to hide behind others. Didn't you kill dozens if not hundreds of enemies with your sword? You never showed any fear back when you fought against pirates and other dangerous scum!"

"That's different! I trained for that! This is different. I never thought I would become a public personality."

"Well, tough luck, Ketis, because you can't avoid this battle. Do you want to hide behind the patriarch's shadow forever? Grow up, girl! You'll become a Journeyman soon! Do you think you can continue to stay unnoticed forever when you have gained enough qualifications to design mechs alongside the lead designers of the Larkinson Clan? We need you to stand your ground if you want to secure more benefits for our fellow sisters!"

She snapped out of her daze. She realized she bore more responsibility now that she had accepted the inheritance of the Annihilator Sword School.

While she still held many questions about the sword school and her ability to channel its distinctive sword style, she knew that there were more important priorities to worry about.

Everything that happened to her was only a means to an end! The goal had always been to empower the Swordmaidens! As long as she did her best to follow the new plan, she could single-handedly reverse their sorry condition and make them stronger than ever before!

Just thinking about meeting Commander Sendra's ambitious goal of recruiting 10,000 high-quality swordswomen caused her heart to pump faster.

She wanted to make this dream come true! She wanted every Swordmaiden to grow less lonely and rid themselves of the trauma they still suffered from after losing hundreds of sisters over the years.

With the infusion of so many enthusiastic women, Ketis could definitely foresee a future where the Swordmaidens became a strong and indispensable part of the Larkinson Clan!

No longer would Ves treat her sisters like endangered animals that needed to be coddled. With thousands of mech pilots, the Swordmaidens would be fully qualified to fight on the frontlines!

All of this was contingent on her upcoming performances.

Having witnessed Ves stepping up and becoming greater than life in public, she attempted to channel some of his 'swagger', as Sendra called it earlier.

"I'm a big girl. I can do this."

Her mentality shifted. Suddenly, she didn't feel so nervous anymore. She possessed enough courage to charge a group of soldiers and hack them apart with her sword. Why should she fear standing out and attracting more attention to her? No matter what all of those people thought about her, she was much stronger than nearly all of them! None of them would last a second in front of her blade!

Commander Sendra closely paid attention to Ketis' demeanor and smirked. She liked what she saw.

"You're truly ready to step out of the shadows now. Now go show them what you can do now that you have mastered a new sword style."

Her turn soon came up. After receiving the encouragement of her fellow Swordmaidens, she walked out into the arena ground while armed with two very different swords.

Her Unending greatsword was holstered and attached to her back while Shiva hung from her waist.

While it was unusual for competitors to bring multiple primary weapons into the arena, the rules did not disallow it. There were plenty of dual wielders and swordsmen who wanted to bring in backup weapons to the field.

The only reason why his phenomenon was fairly rare was that carrying extra weapons was cumbersome enough to affect someone's battle performance.

Even though Ketis knew that she was making it harder for herself by carrying a massive greatsword on her back, she did not wish to part with her favorite weapon.

She wanted to make the audience accustomed to seeing her with her greatsword. This way, it wouldn't be a surprise when she finally pulled out her best sword.

For now, she had different plans in mind. Once she reached her assigned starting position, she straightened her back and adopted a confident posture while slowly pulling Shiva out of its sheath.

[Now this is a surprise!] One of the announcers spoke. [My producers have just informed me that Ketis Larkinson of the Swordmaidens has just taken over the previously dormant Annihilator Sword School. Now that she bears the emblem of one of our sword schools, how will she fare in her matches? If her previous performance is indicative of how she will fight in the future, she will not be able to restore her sword school. On the other hand, if she is able to display a new sword style, then we might witness the emergence of a new sword initiate!"

Sword initiate!

The public, who had only paid a modest amount of attention to ordinary matches, suddenly became energized.

The status of sword initiates were much greater than average swordsmen! While their strength and prestige were incomparable to that of swordmasters, they still represented the future of swordsmanship in the state.

Since this woman managed to take over a sword school, she should definitely be able to back up her new identity.

The swordswoman standing opposite to Ketis happened to be a foreigner. She did not care too much about the implications of fighting the leader of a sword school.

An average Heavensworder would have been much more cautious about facing someone like Ketis!

[Commence the match!]

Ketis stood her ground while her opponent stormed forward.

This time, the enemy wielded an ordinary longsword. Despite that, the older and taller woman held in such an adept manner that it was clear that she possessed an abundant amount of skill.

When the two swordswomen were about to clash, Ketis closed her eyes for a moment and began to concentrate.

Shiva's grew a little darker.

Once her opponent came close enough to launch an attack, Ketis opened her eyes and swung her saber, heedless of the fact that there was a longsword in the way!

Swish.

Empowered by her expanded superpower, Shiva's blade passed right through the solid structure of the longsword and continued on to impact an energy shield.

Although the Annihilator Sword Style fared less well against non-physical barriers, Shiva was empowered to such an extent that the shield could no longer hold the weapon back.

The saber cut through the energy shield and sank into the tough but flexible protective suit.

This time, the weapon experienced no hindrance at all. The blade continued to cut right through the suit materials before passing through the shoulder of Ketis' opponents.

"AAAAHHHHH!"

Even before Shiva amputated the woman's entire arm, the victim had already lost battle effectiveness!

Two separate thumps sounded across the arena. An arm and the body it used to be attached to had both collapsed less than half a minute after the match had begun.

This was a domineering result!

"What did I just see?!"

"That woman… she's actually a sword initiate!"

"Wait, that cut was way too strong! Isn't she a swordmaster!"

"I don't think so. Someone would have disqualified her if this was the case."

The audience became incredibly fascinated by Ketis' overpowering display of might. Even among the strongest sword initiates, the technique she displayed could make all of them nervous.

A new champion contender had entered the stage!