The Mech Touch

5878 Diamond in the Rough

The battle unfolded like one of those dramatic boss battles of the action games that Ves used to struggle with when he was a kid.

Back then, the only apparent purpose for all of the mechs and soldiers that participated alongside the player character was to showcase the destructive prowess of the big bad guy.

Right now, Ves felt like he had been put in the exact same situation.

The difference was that real lives and expensive hardware were at stake!

Unlike in the games that his much younger self played with gusto, the soldiers who bravely risked their lives to fight a being that was pretty much a god had real lives.

To see them die whenever a chain lightning bolt coursed through their Dread Armors as if their impressive armors only worked as conductors was painful to Ves.

It was one thing for these soldiers to die in a meaningful fashion, but they hardly accomplished anything despite their huge numbers!

The Dreadfire Legion had undergone an incredible growth trajectory throughout the prior waves of lightning soldiers. Starting with the 34th Assault Regiment, the rapidly expanding army had grown in both quality and quantity.

Motivated by the ideals of Caramond and powered by the fire energy supplied by the Spark Reactors, the empowered Dread Marines had become far stronger than they used to at the start of the battle.

Each of these elite infantry units could easily defeat ten times if not a hundred times their regular counterparts!

To realize that all of that effort and investment was going to waste whenever their final adversary was flinging chain lightning bolts every once in a while frustrated Ves immensely.

The Subjugation King clearly did not bother to show any respect towards the valiant Dread Marines that irrationally continued to fire their weapons at the massive target despite the lack of obvious results.

They deserved much more. The Dreadfire Legion still committed to a pure 'infantry' battle despite the fact that the clone was as powerful if not more than an ace mech.

Ordinary ace mechs shouldn't have been able to breach the thick and resilient hull plating of a dreadnought with such ease. The Subjugation King was clearly utilizing his superior grasp of energy manipulation and the elements to optimize his destructive attacks to an insane degree.

The Dominion of Man had already gained a couple holes, but the Subjugation King had shown no signs of abating.

This was why the Dreadfire Legion had to keep fighting despite becoming increasingly clearer how badly the human troopers were outmatched.

Caramond tried his best to pump more fire energy through the spiritual network that bonded them all together, but there were limits to everything. The network was too crude, the Spark Reactor did not supply enough fire energy and the Dread Armors were not optimized for this mode of combat.

Ves inwardly shook his head. Everything was too haphazard and improvised. The haste in which he and the others had embarked on this overly ambitious ritual had led them ill-prepared to face such a stupendous challenge.

A part of Ves had already begun to quail. How the hell was he and the Dreadfire Legion supposed to defeat the clone of one of the most powerful cultivators in this galactic cluster?!

Every technique performed by the clone spoke of great control and understanding of E energy and its attributes.

Blinky's exceptional sensitivity towards E energy enabled him to observe how the clone of the God King was able to harness the power of tribulation lightning… and understand none of the advanced working principles.

It was like looking at a processor chip. Just because people could get a glimpse of all of the parts that made up the chip did not mean they could figure out how to replicate it in an instant!

It took a huge amount of science and engineering knowledge to be able to reproduce such an advanced technological product.

Ves had fallen into the same situation. His understanding of cultivation science was far too shallow and spotty for him to be able to understand any of the advanced workings of the God King.

What Blinky did manage to observe was that the Subjugation King cast all of his powerful techniques with the help of invisible runes.

The God King demonstrated incredible proficiency by stringing dozens or even hundreds of them within a blink of an eye!

However, Blinky also noticed that the stronger and more destructive techniques often took a few precious seconds to charge to full power.

Ves had a feeling that the Subjugation King would have been able to cast these spells in a fraction of a time if he was fighting back in Messier 87.

It was fortunate that the tribulation event took place in the Red Ocean. Not even a God King could overcome the inherent limitations of a less energy-rich environment.

Ves narrowed his eyes as his giant nanosuited form marched towards the considerably taller and more intimidating tribulation manifestation. Though he was not a trained soldier or officer, he was still able to utilize his analytical mind to figure out a possible way for him and the Dreadfire Legion to seek a pathway towards victory.

Though a clear route was nowhere to be found, Ves did manage to determine a way to limit the damage to the ship and the Dread Marine Corps.

Every powerful attack required seconds to charge up. The clone of the God King also did not appear to be able to engage in any other significant actions while he prepared to launch his more destructive techniques.

If Ves was able to close in and lock the big bastard in a brawl, then the clone of the God King should have no opportunity to blast another large hole in the hull of the Dominion of Man!

This was why he urged himself to continue forward despite all of his instincts screaming to him what a monumentally bad idea it was for him to approach a much more superior cultivator by himself.

He knew enough about combat that overthinking at this point would do more harm than good. If he continued to entertain doubts, he wouldn't be able to commit to any of his attacks, which was ultimately counterproductive.

While it was difficult for him to drop the attitude of a mech designer, Ves tried his best to shove aside his many distractions and focus on how to get the alien to take him more seriously.

The height difference was considerable, but it shouldn't matter too much as Ves lifted off from the surface of the hull and maneuvered around by employing the native abilities of his phasewater organs.

The Maracos organ was responsible for generating local gravitic forces that essentially pulled the body of a phase lord from one direction to another. It was not that difficult to do this in space, but the problem was that Ves was lacking in practice. There was no way he could dance in the air as well as a light or even a medium mech. His mobility was much more akin to a heavy mech that clearly needed deep maintenance.

Fortunately, the Subjugation King was so arrogant that he never saw the need to change his position. He continued to stand on the same section of the hull and was content to let Ves approach him first.

When Ves came close enough, he attempted to land a punch.

He knew without a doubt that the attack would not produce any satisfying results, but it should be enough to demonstrate that he was committed to fighting his impossibly strong adversary up close!

His fist immediately slammed against a seemingly indestructible obstacle!

"Ahhh! That hurts!"

It wasn't the physical recoil of hitting the E energy equivalent of a wall that hurt Ves.

The real reason why he pulled back his arm and shook his hand in pain was because the damn energy barrier shocked him with tribulation lightning!

It turned out that this defense also possessed an offensive component!

The reason why the Dread Marines hadn't been shocked like this was because they were smart enough to stay far away.

Only when people like Ves moved closer and punched the energy barrier would it send out a nasty shock.

"<nullb>$@#&$@."

"<nullb>DISAPPOINTING. YOUR TEACHERS, IF YOU HAD ANY, FAILED TO PREPARE YOU FOR COMBAT."

Even the Subjugation King couldn't help but comment on Ves' pathetic performance!

"I already told you that I am a creator, not a soldier! I do not belong on the battlefield!"

"<nullb>#$&%."

"<nullb>THAT MAY BE A VALID EXCUSE FOR LESSER MORTALS, BUT NOT FOR YOU. AS MY VALUED SLAVE, I WILL NOT ALLOW YOU TO SQUANDER YOUR TALENTS. IN MY GALAXY, MAKER OF ARTIFACTS ARE EITHER SLAVES OR SLAVE HOLDERS. THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE TWO IS DETERMINED BY STRENGTH. IF YOU CONTINUE TO WALLOW IN YOUR WEAKNESS, YOUR ONLY DESTINY IS TO SERVE AT THE WHIMS OF OTHERS."

"Serving others is the entire point of my profession!" Ves couldn't help but shoot back! "I am sure that there are huge cultural differences between us, but I do not agree that creators such as myself seek to hone our combat strength in order to beat others up in a fight."

The Subjugation King radiated disappointment at Ves.

"<nullb>#$#&&@."

"<nullb>PATHETIC. YOUR RACE IS TOO WEAK AND SOFT. THIS ATTITUDE WILL ONLY SEE YOUR ENTIRE RACE ENSLAVED BY SLIGHTLY LESS WEAK RACES. I DO NOT TAKE PRIDE IN SUBJUGATING THOSE THAT DO NOT OFFER ANY CHALLENGE. YOU DO NOT UNDERSTAND THE IMPORTANCE OF BECOMING STRONG ENOUGH TO FIGHT CHALLENGES BY YOURSELF AS OPPOSED TO RELYING ON THE PROTECTION OF OTHERS. AS YOUR FUTURE MASTER, I WILL TEACH YOU NOW, LEST YOU EMBARRASS ME WHEN I PRESENT YOU TO MY PEERS."

What was that supposed to mean?

"AAAAHHH!"

Ves took a few steps back as the Subjugation King had released a moderately powerful shock at his true body!

Though Ves did not enjoy the pain, he did not feel as upset as he should.

This was because the clone had channeled pure tribulation lightning at him. Though the destruction energy inflicted considerable damage at the impact site, the release of creation energies quickly restored most of his wound.

Ves quickly figured out what the powerful alien expected.

If he was reading this situation correctly, the Subjugation King wanted to 'train' Ves through lightning therapy!

Ves was not stupid enough to think that the God King did this out of the goodness of his heart.

The arrogant and condescending Krelion King merely saw Ves as a diamond in the rough.

The valued slave-in-the-making needed to be fattened up in order to justify his status as a valued slave!

A part of Ves felt offended that the Subjugation King looked down on him so much.

Another part of Ves felt relieved that the God King did not think about killing him outright.

This was hardly the only goal that the powerful alien had in mind. While Ves was in the process of launching another attack, the Subjugation King proved he did not forget about the others by launching a blast of tribulation lightning at a distant primary plasma cannon battery!

The powerful weapon module that was designed to pummel battleships instantly got crippled as the tribulation attack blasted several enormous holes in the housing!

A large amount of delicate components got blasted or melted from the attack. The infusion of creation energies failed to restore the vast majority of destroyed components.

Nanites and repair bots quickly moved in to control the damage and restore as much functionality as possible, but it did not seem likely that the Dominion of Man would be able to use this gun battery for the remainder of this encounter.

Ves tried his best to speed up in order to prevent the Subjugation King from unleashing another destructive attack.

Unfortunately, his Maracos organ was too damn weak and underdeveloped to boost his mobility any further!

As Ves changed his posture to attack with a flying kick, his feet smacked straight into the energy barrier before getting shocked by tribulation lightning!

The defensive barrier did not appear to suffer any serious harm!

"This is impossible!"

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