The Mech Touch

5910 Sketchy Transaction

As Furia continued to grow in strength, the phoenix suffered increasing setbacks.

Now that the transformed Fire Elemental had become a much more worthy contender for control over the power of heaven, the phoenix found itself in the rare situation where it was unable to monopolize all of the fire energy in the environment.

Such an occurrence had almost never happened in the lifetime of the original god beast that the lightning manifestation was based upon!

Phoenixes were truly the darlings of fire. Even in a galaxy as large, dense and prosperous of Messier 87, it was unlikely to encounter any cultivator who possessed a greater connection to the power of fire.

However, it just so happened that a so-called Fire Elemental actually possessed the ability to surpass a phoenix in this aspect!

Ves actually grew impressed at how quickly Furia was able to delve one of the greater abilities of the creator of the Fire Scroll and turn the tables against the god beast with such speed.

The talent of one of the cultivators who broke the Milky Way was much scarier than he thought!

As Furia continued to dominate the fight by blazing like a star, Ves took advantage of the situation to study how she expressed her abilities.

Though Furia shone so brightly and generated so much heat that it was dangerous to look too closely in her direction, Blinky was still able to perceive a lot of clues.

Ves analyzed the data and began to make an important discovery.

Furia likely managed to tap into her original creator's personal rune.

This explained why her strength and her command over fire had skyrocketed to such an extent. Even a rudimentary usage of this powerful rune was enough to properly activate her domain and cause it to live up to the reputation of a True God!

By combining her human-derived ability to harmonize with the Dominion of Man and augment all of her hyper technology far beyond its usual limitations, Furia finally managed to elevate the dreadnought to the point where the extravagantly expensive vessel finally lived up to her original promise!

As the fleeters and the observers became awed at how extensively the tables had turned, they began to entertain a notion that they previously considered heretical.

"Do you think… our ship can fight against a god mech now?"

"If not today, then maybe in a year. The Dominion requires urgent repairs and upgrades before she is even close to challenging a god mech."

"It's possible, right?"

"I think so. It's no longer as hopeless as before."

Even the most optimistic fleeters previously thought that it would take decades for the Dominion of Man to grow to the point where she could become the equal to the weakest god mech.

No more. Even if the phoenix was not as threatening as a god mech, the creature still came a lot closer!

So long as the Dominion of Man successfully vanquished the firebird, she would definitely be able to repel a god mech sooner rather than later!

As the crew held onto this collective hope, they worked harder to ensure that their mighty vessel did not suffer a severe malfunction and falter just as she was on the verge of overcoming this final challenge.

"<nullb>GOOD WORK, FURIA. I AM PROUD OF YOU." The First Flame spoke in a much more charitable tone than Ves was accustomed to. "<nullb>NEVER FORGET WHAT YOU ARE AND WHAT YOU ARE WORKING TOWARDS. SO LONG AS YOU STAND BY HUMANITY'S SIDE, YOU SHALL BECOME THE STAR THAT GUIDES THEM TO A BRIGHTER FUTURE. YOUR FIRE SHALL QUENCH THIS SHIP AND DEFEND OUR TERRITORIES AGAINST ALL ALIEN ENCROACHMENT. WITH THE HELP OF YOUR BOUNDLESS TALENT, YOU CAN BECOME ONE OF OUR GREATEST PROTECTORS."

Furia felt invigorated enough to respond to the First Flame's kind words.

"<nullb>I OWE YOU MY GRATITUDE AND MY LIFE. YOUR GUIDANCE HAS AIDED ME INTO UTILIZING MY POWERS AS THEY WERE MEANT TO BE USED. I SHALL DEDICATE THIS VICTORY IN YOUR HONOR."

"<nullb>DO NOT GROW COMPLACENT. THE PHOENIX HAS NOT YET SUCCUMBED TO YOUR FLAMES. FINISH THE FIGHT BEFORE YOU THINK ABOUT OTHER AFFAIRS."

While the First Flame was right to caution about celebrating prematurely, the phoenix was already losing too much ground.

The powerful fire energy-enhanced plasma bolts, positron beams and kinetic projectiles had managed to punch through the ragged fire shield and harm the structure of the phoenix.

Each salvo inflicted serious damage that the phoenix was unable to cope against.

While the firebird proved to be surprisingly resistant towards damage due to the fact that it possessed the ability to elementalize its body into an energy form, that did not avail the god beast much when it was unable to command as much fire energy as before!

The phoenix's ability to convert its entire body into a combat capable energy form was probably one of its trump cards.

However, the demands for this innate ability were also skyhigh! The less the phoenix was able to leverage the power of heaven, the weaker and more anemic its elemental form became!

It was quite sad to see the phoenix doing so poorly when it had been dominating the fight not too long ago. The reversal came so suddenly that many people had not yet adjusted to the fact that the Dominion of Man was winning this fight!

Several minutes passed by as the phoenix became increasingly more desperate. The god beast's elemental form became increasingly less stable as it was unable to recover from all of the attacks launched by the dreadnought.

"The phoenix has restored its material form!"

"The god beast is heavily injured!"

"The responsiveness of the phoenix has dropped by 40 percent compared to its peak. Its attack power has declined by over 70 percent!"

The seemingly inexhaustible phoenix had finally reached exhaustion. This caused the god beast's domain to cede even more ground.

When the dreadnought had fired the umpteenth salvo of her surviving primary gun batteries, the phoenix let out a mournful cry that momentarily stunned the crew of the Dominion of Man before exploding in a spectacular fashion!

"Incoming tribulation energy release!"

"Brace yourselves!"

The Dominion of Man became subjected to another lightning baptism. This one struck the ship considerably harder due to her much more burned and damaged state!

Though her citadel and many of her internal systems remained in good condition, her exterior had taken a considerable beating.

Many of them finally started to fail as the exploding phoenix had pushed the most vulnerable components over the edge!

Fortunately, the influx of creation energies magically restored a part of the damage and made everything else stronger. Nobody could even begin to explain how all of it worked, but that did not stop them from appreciating the anomalous effect.

While the majority of the crew started to feel an enormous amount of relief for making it past the final wave of the final round of the lightning tribulation, a few people remained oddly vigilant.

"The storm clouds haven't faded away." Ves said with a frown. "That last lightning baptism was also rather weak. The tribulation… is still in progress."

"<nullb>I CONCUR. I DETECTED A NUCLEUS OF FIRE AT THE LOCATION WHERE THE PHOENIX PERISHED."

The crew quickly regained their composure and tried their best to prepare for any eventuality.

When the dreadnought's degraded sensor arrays were able to gain a closer look at the site, Ves and the others became frightened at what they saw!

"Is that… a giant egg?"

A massive flaming egg had appeared in the place of the phoenix's grave!

Ves suddenly recalled that a phoenix was able to undergo nirvana. There were myths that described how they were able to reverse death and advance their strength by undergoing a unique rebirth process!

He found it difficult to believe that phoenixes were able to do this in reality, yet the appearance of this egg showed that the legends may actually be correct!

"Attack!"

The Dominion of Man opened fire on the egg. There was no challenge in hitting a stationary target.

While the egg did not move from its place, it strangely managed to resist every attack that struck its flaming shell!

"None of our attacks have inflicted any apparent damage! Its structure as well as its energy readings have remained constant. Neither energy nor kinetic weapons have produced any meaningful results!"

Though Furia tried to amplify the armaments of the Dominion of Man as best as possible, it quickly became clear that they were dealing with an exceptional phenomenon!

As the seconds passed by, the egg not only remained undamaged, but also started to show signs of increasing activity.

Its energy levels were rising!

"If we do not find a way to destroy this egg, then the chances are high that it will spawn another phoenix, one that may be stronger than the one we previously fought against!"

Dread Captain Volkert Argile couldn't hold himself back any longer.

"Arm all of our remaining antimatter missiles and bombs. Begin the process of retrieving as many usable superweapons from our secure vaults and laboratories. We must throw everything we have at this strange egg."

That was a huge amount of destructive power!

Ves did not know how many superweapons the dreadnought had left, but it was likely enough to crack several planets at the very least!

He had a feeling that it wouldn't be enough to break the egg.

"<nullb>HALT." The First Flame suddenly spoke over the noisy communication channel. "<nullb>YOUR FIREPOWER WILL NOT AVAIL YOU THIS TIME. THE NIRVANA OF A PHOENIX IS AN EXPRESSION OF A GREATER RULE. NEITHER THIS SHIP NOR FURIA CAN BREAK IT BY FORCE."

"I suppose you know more about phoenixes than everyone else in the Red Ocean." Ves said. "I don't think you opened your mouth to tell us how futile it is to employ a lot of weapons of mass destruction. I take it you have a more elegant solution."

"<nullb>YOU ARE CORRECT. I HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS OCCURRENCE SINCE I LEARNED THAT THE FINAL TRIBULATION COMES IN THE FORM OF A PHOENIX. I WOULD LIKE TO PROPOSE A TRANSACTION WITH YOU, FURIA."

"A transaction?! Now?! We need to defeat the phoenix as quickly as possible!"

Furia ignored her progenitor's complaints.

"<nullb>TERMS?"

"<nullb>I SHALL TEACH YOU A METHOD TO NEUTRALIZE THE PHOENIX EGG. ONCE THE DOMINION OF MAN HAS SURVIVED THIS TRIBULATION, I SHALL COME TO YOU AND ASK YOU TO TRANSFER YOUR DETAILED IMPRESSIONS OF THE PHOENIX. THIS REMOTE CONNECTION HAS DONE ME NO FAVORS IN MY ATTEMPT TO STUDY THIS MAGNIFICENT BEAST. ONLY YOU, A FIRE ELEMENTAL, IS ABLE TO STUDY ITS ESSENCE."

"<nullb>I AGREE."

"<nullb>THEN LISTEN CAREFULLY."

The Fire Flame quickly transferred the method over a separate and private communication channel.

Ves found it annoying that he was left out of the loop. He had very good reasons to believe that it might not be a good idea to transfer so much data about the phoenix to the First Flame!

Unfortunately, Furia had already agreed to the transaction. It was an enormously bad idea to renege on a deal with any god pilot, so there was nothing Ves could do to stop this deal from happening.

Furia soon took action once again. She quickly managed to learn the technique taught by the First Flame and soon began to extend her domain around the burning egg.

"The energy readings of the egg are dropping! It is weakening by the second!"

"The temperature of the egg is declining as well. It is 30 percent cooler than before!"

It was as if time was going backwards. Instead of growing hotter and stronger, the egg was instead changing in the opposite direction.

Meanwhile, Furia started to absorb much of the fire energies that were previously condensed in the phoenix egg.

Soon enough, the egg had lost so much energy that a single salvo from the dreadnought's surviving primary armament succeeded in bursting it apart.

"The threat has been neutralized!"

"We succeeded!"

Everyone began to feel a lot of relief once they finally confirmed that the blasted phoenix was no more!

Just as they started to let go of their concerns, the heavens finally began to deliver their final reward for the dreadnought's exceptional performance.

"Our sensors are detecting drastic changes from the storm clouds!"

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