The Mech Touch

5909 Commanding Fire

Many people who possessed the privilege of watching the live feed of the Dominion of Man started to grow concerned at how this final test unfolded.

Regardless of whether they understood the mechanisms of a lightning tribulation, they could see from the progression of the battle that the dreadnought was not doing so well.

Every viewer thought that the powerful warship would be able to repel the phoenix and blast it apart.

Not even the members of the mech community wanted the Dominion of Man to succumb to this challenge!

As all of these people placed their expectations on the ship that had managed to overcome 71 consecutive waves, each of them became pleasantly surprised when the dreadnought finally started to display greater power!

The entire warship had been bathing in the phoenix's relentless heat for far too long.

Occasionally, the phoenix even sprayed a spurt of flame from its beak, causing the massive warship's hull to melt and her external modules to become unusable.

The crackle of tarnished lightning accompanied each of these breath attacks, causing the defenses of the warship to crumble at a faster rate.

Already, entire sections of the ship had already been condemned due to suffering too much damage!

If not for the fact that the hull of the warship was just so damn big, the total amount of damage she accumulated so far would have disabled any smaller warship by this time!

This was why the Dominion of Man's resurgence came at the right time. The dreadnought began to get engulfed in a different kind of fire, one that instinctively felt a lot tamer and more controlled.

Illusionary orange flames sprung to life and covered the exterior of the massive hull.

Far from burning or melting all of the alloys they came into contact with, the friendly flames actually dispersed a lot of excess heat and protected the damaged hull against additional fire attacks!

The phoenix began to express indignation when it noticed that its domain was no longer able to press inside the dreadnought.

So long as Furia continued to utilize her domain to protect and augment the warship under her charge, she would never allow a hostile alien god to harm the vessel and her crew!

As Furia continued to alter the expression of her domain, her newfound purpose and conviction continued to guide her into applying her fire energy in increasingly more effective ways.

However, the Dominion of Man only managed to hold her ground against the phoenix for the time being.

This was far from being able to defeat the firebird!

The ship had lost many gun batteries during the previous minutes. Many powerful and expensive primary cannons had succumbed from the heat and flames.

While the crew were risking their lives to conduct whatever repairs they could to restore the more salvageable weapon systems, it was impossible for the dreadnought to fire as many shots as before.

"Our primary gun batteries are hitting the phoenix at an increasing rate! The damage inflicted by our heaviest cannons are also beginning to destabilize its fire shield increasingly more."

"Is our remaining firepower enough to wear down the defenses of the phoenix?"

"Regretfully, we have lost too many primary and secondary gun batteries. Our diminished salvos and the evasive maneuvers of the phoenix are preventing us from inflicting real harm."

Furia's growth may have allowed the Dominion of Man to shore up her defenses, but it was far from allowing the dreadnought to counter attack!

It was still frustrating for the fleeters to allow this powerful firebird to circle around their ship with impunity!

The creature let loose another blast of fire at the damaged hull. The strengthened protective barrier managed to block most of the damage, but the concentration of power was still too much for Furia.

The hull gained another melted hole!

"Sir! The phoenix is preparing to launch another fire breath attack!"

"So soon?! It appears the phoenix is starting to take this fight more seriously."

Whether it was due to pride or complacency, the phoenix initially sought to defeat the Dominion of Man by burning her with its domain.

Now that Furia mustered up enough resistance to prevent the hostile domain from encroaching on the ship, the firebird evidently decided to complete its goal by employing more direct attacks!

The wings of the phoenix started to blaze in reddish flames. Its flames grew hotter and its speed started to pick up. The unexpected boost in speed caused many gun turrets to miss their shots as they failed to anticipate this change in pattern.

The phoenix did not mindlessly radiate its blazing heat, but started to channel much of its excess power into a steady barrage of fire breath attacks!

The escalating offensive exerted a lot of pressure on Furia. She found herself losing ground again as she was unable to protect the hull against further damage.

It was a disappointing turn of events. Just when she started to feel more confident and optimistic in her changes, the phoenix started to display even greater strength!

While Ves was trying to figure out a way to boost the firepower of the Dominion of Man even further, the First Flame just so happened to provide helpful guidance.

"<nullb>YOU ARE DOING BETTER, FURIA, BUT YOU ARE NOT TAKING FULL ADVANTAGE OF YOUR POWER AS A GOD. AS A FIRE ELEMENTAL, YOU ARE MORE THAN A SINGLE FLAME. YOU ARE A SOVEREIGN OF FLAMES. FROM THE MOMENT YOU WERE BORN, YOU ALREADY INHERITED ONE OF THE MOST TALENTS IMAGINABLE. IT SHOULD NOT BE DIFFICULT FOR YOU TO BESEECH AND COMMAND THE FIRE OF THE HEAVENS."

That was right! Ves suddenly recalled that one of the reasons why qi cultivators were so immensely powerful was because they were able to borrow the power of heaven to amplify all of their techniques!

While Furia had already been doing that on a subconscious level, she was clearly able to do more if she concentrated on this aspect.

However, it was not so easy for Furia to take control over a vast amount of ambient E energy.

There was one powerful obstruction that prevented her from taking control over all of the fire energy in the environment.

The phoenix had been hijacking the vast majority of fire energy flowing through the surrounding space!

There were many myths that described phoenixes as the darlings of the fire element. Their innate talent and affinity towards this attribute were so high that it was hard to defeat them at their home game.

Yet this was exactly what Furia needed to do in order to gather enough power to finally gain the upper hand against this awful firebird!

Ves inwardly groaned when he realized this. The tribulation storm's demands towards the Dominion of Man were too excessive!

It was almost impossible for a True God to surpass a phoenix in this aspect!

If not for the fact that the Fire Elemental was originally derived from one of the strongest fire cultivators of the Milky Way, Ves would have thought that the tribulation storm had set an impossible goal!

Yet because Furia inherited such excellent conditions, she still had a chance of matching and possibly surpassing the phoenix in this game. She just needed to improve fast enough to save the Dominion of Man!

"<nullb>DO YOU FEEL IT, FURIA? DO YOU FEEL HOW PHOENIX IS TAKING ENERGY THAT SHOULD RIGHTFULLY BE YOURS? DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT. EXPAND YOUR DOMAIN AND INCREASE YOUR AGGRESSION. STAYING ON THE DEFENSIVE WILL ONLY CAUSE YOU TO CEDE YOUR GROUND. PUSH AGAINST THE PHOENIX'S DOMAIN AND TRY YOUR BEST TO TAKE OVER THE SURROUNDING FIRES."

"<nullb>HOW?" Furia inquired as she struggled to implement what the god pilot had taught. "<nullb>I CAN PUSH BACK THE PHOENIX'S DOMAIN, BUT THE POWER OF HEAVEN STILL PREFERS TO REMAIN UNDER THE GOD BEAST'S CONTROL. IT IS RESISTING MY EFFORTS TO TAKE CONTROL OVER IT. THE MORE AGGRESSIVE I BEHAVE, THE MORE IT REJECTS MY DOMAIN."

"<nullb>THAT IS NOT A SURPRISE. YOU ARE NOT A GOD PILOT. YOU CANNOT BEND REALITY TO YOUR WILL TO THE SAME EXTENT AS I CAN. YOU NEED TO PERSUADE THE POWER OF HEAVEN TO WORK WITH YOU. THERE ARE MANY POSSIBLE PHILOSOPHIES AND CULTIVATION METHODS THAT CAN ALLOW YOU TO COMMAND THE FLAMES. THERE ARE NUMEROUS APPROACHES THAT ARE SUITABLE FOR A FIRE ELEMENTAL, BUT IT IS NOT MY PLACE TO TELL YOU WHICH ONE YOU SHOULD EMPLOY. ONLY YOU CAN MAKE THIS DECISION. CHOOSE A STRATEGY THAT ALIGNS WITH YOUR TALENT AND YOUR NATURE."

What kind of an approach fit Furia the best?

It was difficult for the transformed Fire Elemental to figure out the answer. She was too new at this. She may have learned a lot of lessons, but the lack of accumulation prevented her from making the necessary connections.

Ves finally found an opportunity to provide his own guidance.

"While I admire your willingness to diverge from the path of your original creator, remember that your affinity and talent comes from him." He said. "This means that it should be easier for you with his approach to commanding the power of heaven. Remember how he sees himself. One of his most prominent symbols is the star."

Those words seemed to resonate with Furia.

Once she adjusted her attitude and started to consider herself as an imperious star who commanded all of the fire and heat spread across an entire star system, a very deep part of her original self began to rouse and enter the forefront!

Light and heat began to shine from the Dominion of Man in increasing intensity as Furia began to incarnate into a metaphorical star!

The phoenix flew back in surprise as Furia's domain suddenly began to expand and harmonize with the surrounding environment!

Though the god beast was still able to control the fire energy in its immediate environment, Furia began to contest it for control!

"The damage output of our remaining active gun batteries is rising! Our weapons are leveraging much more fire energy than before!"

"The protective barrier generated by Furia has completely blocked the phoenix's fire breath! The attack inflicted no significant damage as far as we can tell."

"Our thrusters are providing much greater thrust than before! We are able to gain greater advantages in our maneuvers."

The way that Furia harmonized with the Dominion of Man and the surrounding environment reminded Ves a lot about the teamwork between high-ranking mech pilots and high-

ranking mechs.

Just as how expert pilots were able to boost the performance of their expert mechs by resonating with them, Furia was harmonizing with all of the systems and components of the ship, causing them to reach performance levels that should normally be impossible!

Though the methods were not the same, there were enough parallels that it seemed clear that Furia was trying to develop a similar relationship with the dreadnought.

Ves had a feeling that this may have been the main goal of the Fire Flame.

The god pilot feared rogue cultivators so much that he had tried his best to encourage Furia to increase her dependence on the Dominion of Man.

The more they grew inseparable to each other, the lower the chance that Furia decided to set off on her own in the future!

It was a good strategy. While Furia might possess the qualifications to fight against the phoenix in person, it was much better for the transformed Fire Elemental to fulfill her present purpose and join forces with the dreadnought!

Together, Furia and the Dominion of Man began to gain increasingly more ground. Not only were they growing stronger, but the phoenix also started to lose a lot of strength due to its inability to command as much ambient E energy as before!

The contest of fire started to tilt in favor of the humans. Everyone grew more confident as they saw that the most powerful shots of the Dominion of Man began to break apart the annoying fire shield that kept the phoenix safe all the time.

"Keep at it, men! We are on track to win this final fight!"

The end of the tribulation event was in sight!

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