The Mech Touch

Both sides knew that they had entered the final phase of the battle.

The combined cosmopolitan and native alien fleet had crumbled apart. The vast majority of the stealth-capable ships never stood a chance against the much more prepared

Combat vessels of the Bluejay Fleet.

1 arche lesser phase lord had already fallen while the 2 more were slowly getting devoured from within. The remaining 2 arche phase lords had lost all of their fighting spirit and wanted to flee from the source of the hyper nanomachine plagues as fast as possible.

The enemy small craft had been wiped out without any exceptions. The cosmopolitan mechs and alien phasefighters were quite capable, but their pilots were not as skilled and their tech was not as good. What was worse was that they enjoyed a minimal numerical advantage.

In short, 3 of the 4 asset groups that the enemy force relied upon to ambush the Bluejay Fleet and assassinate Ves had already been taken off the board!

There was only 1 asset group left in contention, but it also happened to be the most powerful and troublesome.

Everyone knew that as long as the Arena Lord and the Distance Shaper vanquished over the Dark Zephyr, it was game over for the Bluejay Fleet.

Both sides understood the score. There was no ambiguity about this matter. There was no possibility for outsiders to intervene either. The weak spacetime bubble that continued to wrap around the Mazepan System might only last for a short time, but it was quite good at isolating the star system from the rest of the Red Ocean.

As Ves began to approach the site where the Dark Zephyr fought against the Arena Lord, he began to think how he could overcome this final hurdle.

At this time, the nanomachine plagues had spread far and wide. He had sent out a lot of swarms on scavenging trips. They devoured every scrap of debris and junk floating in the vicinity in order to reproduce as many nanomachines as possible.

Unfortunately, the mixed material qualities of all of this debris caused the derivative nanomachines to possess mixed properties as well. Only a fraction of the derivative nanomachines were as powerful and resilient as the original stock.

As the swarms slowly completed their task and obediently returned to Ves' true body, the mech designer already started to think about how he could possibly threaten a greater phase lord as resilient as the Arena Lord.

Although it looked as if Ves had not yet made his move, the truth was quite different. He had already instructed the nanomachine plagues to infect the Arena Lord in secret. Once his spatial barrier collapsed and his raiment started to get stripped, the nunser phase lord began to suffer more cuts and open wounds. These were all vulnerable to infection by pathogens that were too small to be seen with the naked eye. Nanomachines were no exception to this rule. Ves bet that the Arena Lord was so big that he would never notice a tiny stream of nanomachines that were far too dispersed to make their presence obvious.

It was too bad it didn't work. The hyper nanomachine plagues were still able to operate inside the bodies of the arche lesser phase lords because their phasewater

Concentration was not too great.

The Arena Lord had broken past this mortal threshold a long time ago. Even if he had yet to replace his blood entirely with phasewater, he had clearly made substantial progress, enough to further expand the size of his true body and turn his physique into a biological wonder that was impossible to grow by pure organisms!

The environment of such a terrible physique became so hostile that the nanomachines all got crushed without exception!

Ves grimaced. That immediately removed a powerful solution from consideration. He could only use the nanomachines to produce his raiment and relatively simple equipment. That was actually a considerable waste as their names already signified that they were much better used in an offensive capacity. Repurposing them to form his own set of gear was a suboptimal solution, as he had already tested earlier in his fight against the arche lesser phase lords.

As Ves stopped at a healthy distance from the Arena Lord of Ya'gwasa, the Dark Zephyr had already backed off from his opponent and taken stock of his current condition. The Dark Zephyr was no longer in good shape. Although he had fared very well against two greater phase lords, all of the heavy maneuvering had stressed his flight system and boosters by a considerable extent. The ace mech had also depleted much of his energy reserves, which meant that he was not able to persist for much longer.

The battle damage also looked rather concerning to Ves. The Dark Zephyr possessed so little capacity that every piece played an important role in elevating the living mech's performance. Even relatively minor instances of damage could cause the machine to become unbalanced, leading to further inefficiencies.

Fortunately, the Arena Lord had not come out of this fight unscathed. His true body had lost two layers of protection and was down to resisting incoming attacks with his thick hide and outermost layers of armor,

Even so, he was still able to rely on his flesh and bones to resist the powerful kinetic attacks of the Rosfield Cannons!

The Bluejay Fleet placed a lot of hope in the battleship-grade cannons, but they were unable to punch too deep in the massive body of the Arena Lord.

"Lord Richard," Ves contacted his fellow Senior Mech Designer who designed and built the Rosfield Cannons in a hurry. "How many salvos do the Rosfield Cannons have left?"

The Rubarthan mech designer did not sound good. "Not much, Ves. We have 14 salvos left. We do not have any opportunities to fabricate additional rounds from all of the salvage as the warships capable of doing so were all committed in battle. Once we have fired all 42 rounds, we are out. The other weapons mounted on Fort Rock are beginning to run dry as well. There are still a few torpedoes left for the launcher that you have built, but their effectiveness against the Arena Lord has proven to be limited."

42 rounds fired from a triple-barreled gauss cannon turret represented a lot of damage, but an existence as unreasonable as a greater phase lord was still able to withstand this much punishment with their bodies alone!

Ves had already noticed how many shots from the Rosfield Cannons the alien powerhouse had already incurred. The nunser phase lord was still able to put up a good fight as hardly any of the damage degraded his combat effectiveness!

A silent moment stretched as both sides temporarily suspended their attacks and studied each other.

They all had reasons to enjoy a little reprieve.

The fighting had been so intense for the greater phase lords and Saint Tusa that they

Could dearly use a break to recover some of their energies and address the damage that

They incurred.

They also tried to use the time to formulate new battle plans.

"#$&#$@$#@."

"IT APPEARS THAT THE MORTALS AND THE LESSER GODS OF THE ARCHE RACE HAVE FAILED TO DEFEAT YOU HUMANS. COWARDS. THEY ARE ALL COWARDS. NONE OF THEM POSSESS THE COURAGE TO FIGHT TO THE DEATH. IF THEY DID, THE COWARDLY ARCHE COULD HAVE BEEN ABLE TO CLEAN YOU ALL UP BY THIS TIME. TO THINK THAT 5 OF THEM ARE STILL UNABLE TO DEFEAT A FORCE COMPROMISING OF JUST A SINGLE ABOMINATION AND HIS MORTAL FIGHTING FORCE! WHAT A SHAME!"

The Arena Lord was clearly upset that the 5 arche phase lords failed to accomplish anything in the end. The nunser leader had been hoping that the additional backup would sway this fight in his favor. Now, it looked as if the opposite would happen! "You and the Distance Shaper stand alone on this battlefield. You are heavily outnumbered, Arena Lord." Ves transmitted to the two greater phase lords. "We do not have to resume this fight. Your chances of beating us are slim so long as you cannot eliminate Saint Tusa over here. If you retreat right now, I promise on behalf of the Bluejay Fleet that we will not pursue and threaten you any further for today. If you insist on continuing the fight, then you may not enjoy the results. We still have weapons left in reserve that can make your life miserable."

That was partially a lie. The Bluejay Fleet did manage to retrieve a number of dangerous and unusual weapons of mass destruction from its vaults, but not all of them were meant to destroy a greater phase lord, so their effectiveness in this situation was

Anything but certain.

The Arena Lord may have suspected this as well, because he exhibited open contempt.

Towards what Ves proposed.

"#$&#$#$."

"I AM NOT A COWARD. I HAVE ALREADY TAKEN THE FAILURE OF MY ALLIES AND MINIONS INTO CONSIDERATION. IF YOU THINK YOU CAN FRIGHTEN ME INTO WITHDRAWING BY BOASTING ABOUT YOUR NUMBERS, THEN YOU ARE A FOOL. I WILL ONLY BOW DOWN TO A MARTIALLY SUPERIOR ENEMY, NOT A NUMERICALLY SUPERIOR ENEMY. YOUR NUMBERS MAY GIVE YOU A SENSE OF SECURITY, BUT ALL I SEE IS A WEAKNESS TO BE EXPLOITED! LET ME DEMONSTRATE!"

The Arena Lord brazenly ignored the Dark Zephyr and flew towards Fort Rock! The powerful greater phase whale finally acknowledged that it was best to wreck this space fortress first in order to reduce the spatial suppression effect on his physique! Although the suppression grew stronger as the powerful greater phase lord came closer, the Arena Lord possessed such solid control over his physique that he was able to resist the effect to an extent!

The action made the Arena Lord provoked a large response. Pretty much every surviving mech and warship opened fire on the greater phase lord, taking great care to target his

Existing wounds.

Yet the damage proved far too disappointing as the Arena Lord not only possessed a large enough body to incur so many wounds, but also relied on phasewater adaptations

Within his body to reinforce his body even further!

The Rosfield Cannons fired also after salvo at the greater phase lord as fast as the improvised weapon system could accomplish, none of these powerful shots could deter the powerful alien's passage!

The only mech that could possibly pose a credible threat to the Arena Lord was the Dark

Zephyr.

Saint Tusa felt torn for a moment. Should he pursue the Arena Lord and do his best to slow the powerful enemy down, or should he turn around and target the Distance

Shaper?

"Chase after the Arena Lord." Ves instructed. "Losing Fort Rock too soon is a big blow to

Us. Also, it should be easier for you to land a solid hit on the Arena Lord now that he is fixated on another target."

Tusa nodded second as he considered the argument. "You're right. I will not let this alien

Run without letting me impale my Destroyer spear into the alien's massive body. What

Will you do, Ves?"

The mech designer in question did not stare at the Arena Lord, but instead looked speculative as he stared at the Distance Shaper.

"I think I will have a chat with the other greater phase lord... with a hefty escort of

Mechs."

"Why? What purpose is there in talking to our mortal enemies?"

Ves chuckled. "I don't know. Maybe I can stall the alien, or persuade him to abandon his worthless mission and run away. Who knows."

As Ves steadily flew over to the Distance Shaper, he did so under a heavy escort.

This made his approach look more aggressive, which was not his intention. The orven phase lord had not really talked since the beginning of this confrontation. He appeared more than content to let his more vocal partner do all of the talking.

He could no longer do so now that he was in charge of his own words.

"@$@$."

"IT IS A MISTAKE TO THINK I CAN BE BULLIED BY YOU AND YOUR ILK. ULTIMATE VICTORY SHALL BE OURS."

"Whoa there Mr. Distance Shaper. Let us not get too hastily. There is still room for negotiation...

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