The Mech Touch

Waltz was not a herbivore who would let his opponent kill off his soldiers one by one!

”I have to admit your mech is tougher than I expected for its size! If my gauss rifles canʼt penetrate your shell, then Iʼll just have to employ something heavier!”

The War General retracted its gauss rifles and instead wielded a melee weapon that unfolded into a huge halberd with a very prominent spike!

”A true war general wonʼt hesitate to lead from the front!”

The heavy mech began to employ its flight system and additional flight modules to accelerate past the asteroid. It held out the tip of its halberd like a lance and slowly built up its momentum as it closed in on the immobilized Ouroboros.

Despite its heavy mass and lackluster acceleration, the generous charging distance allowed the War General to build up a considerable amount of momentum! By the time the mech reached the Ouroboros, the tip of its halberd would be able to pierce through even the hardiest of armor with unstoppable force!

While Ves paired up the Ouroboros with a very substantial armor system, even he began to shudder at the thought of getting hit by a charging mech whose momentum was comparable to that of a crashing starship!

”Thatʼs a Destroyer Halberd!” Axelar yelled in panic! He spotted the tell-tell glow around the blade and spike of the War Generalʼs weapon. ”My mech wonʼt hold up against this move! I have to move my Ouroboros!”

When Axelar started to take down the War Generalʼs soldiers, he focused first and foremost on the neutron beam turrets. They posed the most acute threat to his life as they could easily penetrate his cockpit!

Once he took down the turrets, he focused his aim towards the debilitating gravitic lockdown modules, but they were larger and tougher than the neutron beam turrets! Not only that, but they were protected by fairly powerful shielding! It took five shots with his positron rifle to take one of them out!

As dread continued to mount in Axelarʼs mind, he started to freeze.

Ves became frustrated again. His host possessed too little battle experience! How could he freeze at such a critical moment!?

”Youʼve already taken out four gravitic lockdown modules, Axelar!”

”Thereʼs still eight more to go!”

”You donʼt need to take out every single deployable! The Ouroboros is more powerful than you think! By my calculations, the forces exerted by the remaining eight modules will only slow it down at best! They canʼt pin down your Ouroboros in place anymore!”

When the gravitic lockdown modules initially pinned down the Ouroboros, Axelar only tried to overpower it for a minute before giving up. There was no point wasting energy in a fruitless attempt to break free from an impenetrable prison.

Yet now that Ves reminded Axelar of the change in conditions, the Ouroboros alighted its flight system and flight modules anew!

Not only its main flight system, but also the smaller flight modules built into the arms, legs and other parts of the torso all engaged as well!

The black-and-white mech started to glow from multiple sections as it overpowered the forces exerted onto it through sheer brute force!

”Fly, Ouroboros, fly!”

Although the Ouroboros still suffered from some impairment, Axelar was able to build up just enough speed for it to move in an angle towards the asteroid in the center of the arena.

The asteroid was so big that it took up an eight of the volume of the entire arena space! While it wasnʼt particularly strong against focused firepower, it posed enough of a hindrance that Waltz was forced to break off his attack run when it seemed he had to charge his mech through the middle of the asteroid to impale his opponentʼs mech!

Coward!” Waltz yelled. ”Is this the courage of a Streon clansman!?”

Axelar couldnʼt help but patch into the communication channel. ”What kind of idiot mech pilot would let his mech get run down by a charging enemy? For someone who pilots a mech called the War General, you sure are stupid!”

Half the audience laughed. They were glad that Axelar was at least able to put up a serious fight now! Perhaps his unusual hero mech might stand a chance against the War General!

The War General attempted to fly around the large asteroid to recover its line of sight against the Ouroboros, but Axelar made sure to keep circling around!

In the meantime, Axelar used this reprieve to shoot at the remaining deployables in the field. While firing his positron rifle in a cone-like spread put a massive strain on the weapon, it nonetheless held up. The Ouroboros also had plenty of energy to spare!

Once the number of ECM and gravitic lockdown modules decreased, Axelar shifted back to firing narrow, concentrated beams.

”Hahaha!” Axelar regained his confidence after taking out the last of the War Generalʼs army. ”Now that Iʼve slaughtered your army, youʼre a general without an army!”

”Do you think youʼve won, Axelar? You know nothing! My mech isnʼt this big for nothing! A War General fights best with his army, but they are not afraid to enter into a duel with an enemy champion! Let me show you the true power of my machine!”

On the other wide of the asteroid, the War Generalʼs huge rear module reconfigured itself. Previously, it served as a container and control system for its deployables. Now, it transformed into what appeared to be six powerful missiles!

”Fire!”

The missiles launched from the back of the War General and circled around the entire asteroid. Waltz immediately commanded his mech to turn around and fly as far away as possible to escape what was about to happen!

As for Axelar, while his sensors hadnʼt given him an exact view of what was happening on the other side, the Ouroboros didnʼt fail in detecting the missiles and their extremely potent payloads heading in its direction!

”Those missiles have enormous plasma payloads!” Axelar squeaked.

”Donʼt panic!” Ves immediately reassured his host. It was getting rather tiring to hold Axelarʼs hand all the time. ”Those plasma missiles are configured for wide-area destruction! The damage will be dispersed over a huge area!”

”That just means I canʼt avoid the missiles!”

”Donʼt try to dodge the explosions! Just hug the surface of the asteroid and power up the shields of your mech to the maximum!”

Axelar almost forgot about the shields of his Ouroboros!

While pouring full power into the shield generator of his mech expended a huge amount of energy, the mechʼs ability to withstand damage increased by a huge margin!

Just seconds after Axelar made his move, the plasma missiles exploded all around the asteroid and his mech!

A torrent of superheated plasma engulfed the entire arena space! Even the War General wasnʼt exempt from getting hit as it employed its own shield generator to help fend off the damage that reached the periphery!

The War General only suffered a fraction of the energy and plasma unleashed from the simultaneous missile detonations!

Incredibly hot plasma matter burned through the nickel-iron asteroid and impacted against the oval shield encompassing the Ouroboros!

Axelar couldnʼt help but scream at the thought of getting burned to a crisp!

Yet once a dozen seconds passed and the glowing plasma stopped impacting his mech, he realized his mech still remained intact!

”I survived. The shield held up!”

Although the Ouroboros strained its shield generator to such an extent that it would struggle to withstand another huge attack, it nonetheless did its job!

Even the entire audience looked in awe as the Ouroboros managed to endure the powerful plasma explosions without employing any fancy systems to take out the missiles or neutralize the payloads.

Axelar instead had his mech withstand the attack upfront!

”Look at the Ouroboros!” The announcer excitedly commented. ”Thereʼs nary a single scratch or scorch mark on its white-and-black exterior! After all the firepower the War General employed against its foe, Axelar has soundly shown his contempt at the attacks!”

Even though Waltz was dismayed the plasma missiles hadnʼt damaged the Ouroboros, he still maintained his confidence. ”Do you think thatʼs the extent of my attack? Hah! Look at your surroundings! You no longer have anywhere to hide! Your mech is completely in the open now!”

The asteroid was gone now! While some loose, molten chunks of superheated matter still flew about here and there, they were no longer big enough for a mech to hide behind!

The War General, now unburdened by its rear attachments, began to brandish its halberd before entering into another charge!

Waltz intended to move the fight up close!

”Thereʼs nothing to fear from the War General.” Ves encouraged his host. ”The mech is still too large and cumbersome to hit you with its charge. The Ouroboros can easily dodge aside before its halberd ever comes close to impaling it! Instead of fearing your opponentʼs approach, you should welcome him instead! A hero mech is as deadly up close as it is from a distance!”

The way in which the Ouroboros withstood the destructive plasma explosions with nary a scratch finally convinced Axelar of the power of his mech!

”I donʼt fear you, Waltz! You want to take the fight up close? Letʼs dance!”

The Ouroboros engaged its flight systems and countercharged! Even as its right side held out its sword in a ready position to strike, its left side began to pepper the War Generalʼs shields with positron beams!

The War General was a bigger and heavier mech than the Ouroboros, but its shield generator was actually smaller and weaker!

”Keep firing at the War General, Axelar!” Ves advised. ”The energy the Ouroboros is discharging is less than the energy the War Generalʼs shield generator expends in withstanding the attacks!”

The duel entered a new phase in which both mechs engaged in a battle of attrition!

As the mechs closed in on each other, Axelar synced himself deeper into his mech. The Ouroboros exerted a powerful thrust from the side, causing the mech to veer away from the reach of the War Generalʼs halberd!

Both mechs began to fly in wide arcs as they adjusted their trajectory in order to continue to close the distance against each other!

The Ouroboros continued to fire its positron rifle against the War General. At this distance, the sluggish, heavy mech was trivially easy to hit!

Still, the War General wasnʼt without solutions, as it popped up its integrated gauss rifles out of its frame.

Not only that, but Waltz also activated another weapon system on his mech, causing the War General to zap the Ouroboros with powerful electrical discharges!

This attack was especially effective against its shield!

Ves noted the threat. ”Weʼre in trouble now, Axelar! This electrical discharge is wearing down our shield generator! Our positron rifle is powerful, but it wonʼt defeat the War General fast enough! You need to up the ante!”

”I got it!”

With a wordless cry, Axelar stopped making his mech circle around the slower War General and attempted to charge up close!

The Ouroboros poured power into its Destroyer Sword, causing its blade to grow in a deathly greyish light!

CLANG!

The War General parried the attack by blocking it with its halberd that glowed in the same shade! It was also a Destroyer Weapon!

Expecting something like this to happen, Axelar didnʼt halt his offensive. His Ouroboros was smaller, lighter and more mobile than the War General! Axelar took full advantage of this difference by circling around the War General at close range in order to strike it from many different angles!

”Thatʼs it, Axelar! The War Generalʼs shields are depleting rapidly!”

Destroyer Weapons not only cut most alloys like butter, but they inflicted quite some damage against shields as well!

At this range, the angular velocity of the Ouroboros rendered the War Generalʼs gauss rifles useless. Its electrical weapons only sporadically locked on to the Ouroboros as well.

Yet Waltz did not feel any distress. ”Hah! So you couldnʼt resist getting up close! Prepare to be roasted!”

Nozzles began to extend from all around the frame of the War General. As Axelar began to wonder what they were for, an inferno of plasma erupted from all around his opponentʼs mech!

The Ouroboros quickly became engulfed in all-encompassing plasma!

Even though its shield began to reach its breaking point, Axelar did let this new development pause his offensive. His immersion with his mech had grown to an extent where he no longer doubted the capabilities of his mech.

The Ouroboros could withstand the damage!

Even as the powerful attack finally overloaded its shield and began to burn at the artful reliefs on the surface of his mech, Axelar continued to fly through the waves of plasma and strike at the surface of the War General with a powerful overhand chop with the Destroyer Sword!

The War General was forced to disengage its shield generator to release the huge volume of plasma. This caused the Destroyer Sword to leave a very deep cut into its armor!

Attacks continued to land on the War General as the Ouroboros outright ignored the damaging plasma.

Its positron rifle also collapsed into a more compact form, which the Ouroboros placed onto the lower back of its frame. This helped preserve the surprisingly resilient weapon from all of the plasma!

The War General did not possess an endless supply of plasma. Once it finally finished discharging all of that hot matter, the mech looked like it had emptied out its reserves!

Not only that, but the continuous sword attacks from the Ouroboros had cut and damaged various parts of its exterior! As long as Axelar opened up those breaches with subsequent attacks, he could get past the armor and inflict significant internal damage to the heavy mech!

Yet Waltz did not express any concern at all. ”Hahaha! Do you think thatʼs the extent of what my War General can do? Youʼve only been fighting its outer layer!”

At a single command, the War Generalʼs exterior components began to break apart and separate from the frame! Armor plating, weapon modules and more all spread out, revealing a slimmer and much more mobile light mech from underneath!

The mech spun its halberd. ”The true dance begins now!”