The Mech Touch

With the exception of the Honeycomb Defender, the high-ranking mechs of the 77 Warborn Mech Division had finally entered into an attack run on the planet of Duqaste XI!

Unfortunately, the just-destroyed archeship had given the defending Ghirard Fleet enough forewarning to summon the nunser starship personnel to their action stations and launch thousands of phasefighters from their makeshift carriers.

An entire mech division would struggle to defeat such a formidable fleet. Seven high-ranking mechs had no chance of doing so, especially if the alien fleet was guarded by a formidable phase lord.

So far, the Tireless Engine had yet to show himself, but it shouldn't take long before the nunser warlord made an appearance.

The enemy leader had no choice in the matter. The Mars advanced towards the Ghirard Fleet at such a rapid pace that it would soon enter into optimal fighting range!

The native aliens possessed a good enough understanding of ace mechs to know they should never allow these powerful machines to fight without keeping them in check.

That did not mean that the enemy warships were afraid to go on the attack. The first gun batteries already started to open fire at the approaching ace mech.

Dozens of chaotic and uncoordinated energy beams, kinetic projectiles and missiles attempted to strike the Mars.

None of them managed to inflict any effective damage.

The Mars deftly maneuvered around in space and managed to throw off the aim of a lot of alien gunners and automated targeting systems. The machine also channeled so much power into its flight system that Reginald was always able to move it in time to evade an attack that could have struck his mech directly according to his sharp intuition.

The missiles were a little more annoying to deal with as their homing capabilities had no trouble locking on to the ace mech that was radiating a huge amount of heat and other emissions.

The Mars fired the integrated energy weapons of the ARCEUS System at a rapid rate. Though Reginald usually preferred to pump as much juice in the weapons to inflict the greatest possible damage, he knew how to reduce their power output in order to speed up their cycling time and allow for more frequent shots.

The thin laser beams accurately struck each and every warhead with plenty of power to detonate them in advance. Multiple powerful explosions filled the surrounding space, throwing up a lot more interference, but not enough to cause the two sides to lose track of each other.

As the Mars continued to advance in the face of enemy fire without incurring any damage, the enemy leader had no choice to appear this time.

It was abundantly clear that the Mars could easily destroy the entire enemy fleet without the protection of a phase lord!

The only other way to preserve the alien vessels was if they split up and fled in separate directions, but that was obviously not an acceptable option.

"We are detecting a huge amount of spatial activity!"

The Tireless Engine emerged out of the flagship of the Ghirard Fleet and began to unfold his alien true body.

The quadruped alien grew in size until his height surpassed 1.2 kilometers!

That already made him larger than all but the most exaggerated juggernauts built by red humanity!

Ghirard's length and bulk was even more impressive. The massive nunser phase lord clearly looked a lot bulkier and more muscled than the bodies of typical nunsers. There were clear signs of biological modification and mutation. This was not a warlord that shied away from more extreme augmentation methods to increase his combat power!

As the Tireless Engine reached his full size, a massive suit of armor that resembled the metal shell of a capital ship appeared out of nowhere and soon began to wrap around the phase lord's body in a preprogrammed routine.

"Where did that giant suit come from?!"

"The Tireless Engine possesses his own pocket space. Be careful about that. He may be hiding more than just his full battle dress."

Ghirard may just be a lesser phase lord, but he was close to reaching the limits of his current stage. His spatial barrier felt strong and solid while his formidable equipment looked especially strong and high in quality.

Additional segmented azure energy shields began to wrap around the massive alien warlord. The phase lord was covered by so many powerful energy defenses that Patriarch Reginald began to feel a lot more pressured at the thought of trying to overcome all of those tough and sturdy layers.

By the time that the Tireless Engine reached his full size and adorned his proud transphasic raiment, his presence on the battlefield had risen to an enormous height!

His open presence boosted the morale of many nunsers serving in his fleet, causing them to gain a lot more confidence in their fight against the human invaders.

In the meantime, General Ark and the other expert pilots grew dismayed at what they saw.

"This phase lord looks different from the recordings. His giant suit of armor looks a lot more modern. He's… become more powerful than anticipated."

The sensors of all of the mechs tried to gather as much data as possible. They detected a lot of clues that made the expert pilots feel more and more alarmed.

"Damn! The phase lord's rainment is made with the help of stolen human technologies! Not only does it make use of our azure energy shields, but its armor system is also much tougher as well!"

"The big metal suit is new." General Ark "It incorporates more advanced phasewater technology as well as hyper technology. The configuration is also different. It has less ranged weapon hardpoints, but its thrusters are bigger and more numerous. I fear that it has become a much deadlier brawler than before. Do not allow the Tireless Engine to get close to you. Do whatever you can to shake him off if he has chosen to pursue you. Wait for the Mars to block his path."

The plan to attack Duqaste XI suddenly became a lot shakier due to this variable. The presence exuded by the Tireless Engine was incredible. The nunser phase lord did not seem annoyed or afraid by the incursion of human high-ranking mechs in the slightest!

As the various systems of his transphasic hyper raiment continued to power up, the phase lord greeted his human 'guests' with an electronic broadcast on many different channels at the same time.

"HUMAN FAILED GODS. YOU ENCROACH UPON MY FLEET AND TERRITORY. YOU SHOULD HAVE CONTINUED TO HIDE BEHIND YOUR ORBITAL DEFENSES AROUND THE SEVENTH PLANET FROM THE NEARBY STAR."

The Tireless Engine's raiment helpfully translated his alien speech into human language, so none of the pilots had to be subjected to incomprehensible alien noises.

In situations like these, only Reginald should respond. Phase lords tended to respect norms and expert pilots much less than ace pilots.

From the perspective of these powerful aliens, it was a waste of time to engage mortals and weaklings in a dialogue. Only humans that had attained the strength of an ace pilot at minimum was worth their attention as they were also the only enemies that could stop them in their tracks!

"Your suit of armor looks new. Where did you get it from?"

"THE RED CABAL HAS ENTRUSTED ME WITH THE TASK OF STOMPING 'ACE PILOTS' SUCH AS YOURSELF. DO NOT THINK THAT GODS SUCH AS MYSELF WILL ALWAYS REMAIN PREY TO YOU. JUST AS YOU RELY ON YOUR TECHNOLOGICAL PROWESS TO AMPLIFY YOUR POWER, SO CAN WE. MY SAINT CRUSHER IS ONE OF THE MANY TECHNOLOGICAL GIFTS DEVELOPED BY OUR RACES THAT DOES NOT SEEK TO GIVE US AN EQUAL CHANCE OF WINNING AGAINST YOU, BUT ANNIHILATE YOU UTTERLY. BY THE TIME OUR DUEL COMES TO AN END, YOUR BROKEN BODY SHALL BE CRUSHED BY MY HOOVES!"

Well, General Ark at least found the alien translation program to be praiseworthy. It sounded a lot better and less mangled by alien idioms than the alien speeches he heard in the past.

Despite learning that the Red Cabal had very clearly developed and deployed more specific countermeasures against powerful ace pilots and ace mechs, Patriarch Reginald did not appear to be intimidated at all. His confidence was so great that he still did not see any reason to think he would lose against an opponent that had recently upgraded his gear.

Sure, Reginald at least possessed enough sense to realize that he had a greater chance of losing if he was careless in any way, but he did not intend to make any mistakes in this fight.

The Mars actually slowed down as it flew closer to the armored phase lord.

The size and mass between the two diverged enormously. The Mars looked so much smaller than the massive Tireless Engine that it resembled a fight between a mouse and a bear.

Yet, the amazing energy output of the Mars and its even more impressive Saint Kingdom made it so that no one thought that the ace mech was at a significant disadvantage in this fight!

The prospect of battling against a more formidable and well-equipped foe made Reginald more excited, causing his willpower to spike to a greater height before the duel had even begun!

The Mars extended its trusty transphasic axe, which Master Benedict Cortez had recently upgraded with hyper technology.

The changes made by the Master Mech Designer has caused the transphasic axe to gain a lot more mass and heft. This allowed the Mars to swing the weapon with much greater physical force and impact than before.

"If you think that ace pilots like myself are easy to defeat now that you have got a new suit of armor, then think again. We are the second-most powerful protectors of humanity! We have much more experience with fighting with powerful technologies than a lumbering phase lord such as yourself. You call yourself Tireless Engine, right? I will make sure to break you before you ever get to outlast me. Your proud defenses stand no chance against my unending attacks."

The enemy phase lord responded by using his armored upper limbs to retrieve a pole from the side of his raiment before unfolding it into a powerful spear.

The imposing, kilometers-long spear looked incredibly massive and deadly!

Just a simple swing from the giant phase lord was probably enough for the Lionheart to get crushed by the sheer physical force of getting slammed by the side of this giant-sized polearm!

What was worse to the humans was that the weapon was not a simple stick with a pointy end. The Red Cabal had incorporated both phasewater and hyper materials into it, causing it to not only gain amazing penetration properties, but also increase its sensitivity to the water element.

Each time the massive phase lord swung his transphasic hyper spear, spatial ripples passed in the weapon's wake.

If the phase lord started to channel his spatial abilities through a weapon that was clearly designed for this purpose, then the Tireless Engine would definitely be able to pose a great threat against his current challenger!

The Mars was an excellent offensive mech and always fared best when it was on the attack.

Its defenses were less than stellar. Aside from its Saint Kingdom, its defensive properties were not that great.

There was a real chance that the Mars could fall into a disadvantage if it suffered a solid blow from this scary spear!

As for the expert mechs such as the Lionheart and the C-Man, they stood no chance at all! A direct impalement was probably enough to crush their mech frames to pieces!

"YOU ARE NOT LACKING IN CONFIDENCE, REGINALD OF THE CROSS CLAN. YES, I KNOW OF YOU. I HAVE BEEN STUDYING YOU IN PREPARATION TO FIGHT AGAINST YOU EVER SINCE MY HERD LEARNED THAT YOUR WARBORN IS DEFENDING THIS STAR SYSTEM. I SHALL NOT PROVE MYSELF AS INCOMPETENT AS THE TRAMPLER OF STARS. TODAY, I SHALL PROVE THAT THE GODS OF OUR RACE ARE FULLY CAPABLE OF CRUSHING HUMAN SAINTS LIKE YOURSELF!"

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