The Mech Touch

Mobility was extremely important to ace mechs, particularly when they were primarily designed to fight up close.

It was impossible for the Master Mech Designers in charge of developing the Neo Amadeus to neglect this aspect!

The transphasic flight system of the Neo Amadeus might not be as good as that of the Mars, but the transphasic sword just happened to possess an extra function that more than made up for this difference!

Though Ves was incredibly surprised at how the Neo Amadeus was able to speed itself up, Master Benedict did not look too surprised.

”This is what ace mechs are capable of, Ves. Donʼt blindly apply the model of expert mechs to this classification of machines. Compared to your Everchanger, the Mars and the Neo Amadeus are much more versatile in how they manipulate their capabilities to achieve more diverse outcomes. The reason why there is such a major difference is because their ace pilots have matured their power expression to a much higher degree.”

Ace pilots had taken a major step towards transitioning into energy-based lifeforms. The more they distanced themselves from their mortal limitations, the more they became proficient at harnessing the powers granted by their more developed domains!

To people like Ves, it was incredibly silly to think that allowing a sword to cut through space could increase the speed of a machine.

The Neo Amadeus had taught him a big lesson that he should never apply too much common sense towards any ace mech!

Right now, the Neo Amadeus was slowly gaining on the Mars due to the speed advantage it had bought. While Saint Jeremiah had to exert more willpower in order to do so, it was more than worth the effort as long as his ace mech succeeded in reaching his target!

Saint Jeremiah didnʼt find it worth it to harass the Mars by launching its other swords. It was better to focus entirely on maximizing the speed of his ace mech so that it could get close enough to swing its sword at the Mars.

Of course, Patriarch Reginald had no interest in letting his opponent have his way.

”Take this!”

The ARCEUS System fired concentrated laser and positron beams at the transphasic sword in the hopes of damaging it or at least interfering with its operation.

The Mars also fired its shoulder-mounted gauss cannons at the enemy ace mechʼs leading sword.

Unfortunately, no matter how much the Mars attempted to knock down the sword, it remained completely undamaged and continued to perform its function with not a single sign of stability.

Patriarch Reginald gained a much greater impression of the quality and power of the weapons of the Neo Amadeus.

The overall mech frame didnʼt appear to be extravagant, but the developers of the ace mech allocated a lot of funding, resources and attention to equip it with the best possible swords that the Gauge Dynasty could supply!

This was bad news to Reginald as the three swords enabled Jeremiah to express his power in many more powerful ways.

Their importance to the Neo Amadeus was just as great as the Decapitator to the First Sword!

Reginald recalled that Saint Jeremiah had once gone on an exchange to the Heavensword Association in his early career.

Though the Gauger ace pilot had never openly visited the Heavensword Association again, the man must have doubtlessly inherited a fair amount of traditions and methods of the sword fanatics.

”Those swords need to be taken care of.” Reginald concluded. ”Iʼll be in trouble as long as Jerry is able to make use of all of them. I need to find a way to knock them out of his grasp.”

That was easier said than done. His powerful ARCEUS System that possessed the power to destroy entire city districts failed to inflict any meaningful damage to the enemyʼs transphasic sword!

The main reason why the Mars kept firing its integrated energy weapons over and over was because it took a lot of effort from Saint Jeremiah to mitigate the incoming damage.

The fight between the two ace mechs turned into an attrition battle for the following minutes. Though the actions of both ace mechs seemed repetitive, that was because the ace pilots knew that the real fight would only begin once the Neo Amadeus fully caught up to the Mars!

It was strange to see the two ace mechs fighting at a fairly low intensity when the battle much below had become a lot fiercer!

The Minerva and the Blade Chaser Mark II tried their best to fend off the aggressive assault from the Arma Tensar and the Fila Tensar.

Commander Casella Ingvar had turned herself into a major nuisance by Commandeering a lot of Rifle Warriors that struck the mechs of the Sundered Phalanx with greater power and precision than normal.

The command-oriented expert pilot had little choice but to retract her presence from her fellow Larkinson mech pilots in order to empower her brother. It was only when the Blade Chaser Mark II received a large power-up that the Ingvar siblings reluctantly managed to hold their own against the Tensars.

Elsewhere, Venerable Jannzi entered into the most difficult fight of her career so far. Her difficulties began when the Skorpion Commando along with a bunch of other elite mech units had boarded several special combat carriers and warped behind the Larkinson fleet and launched a lightning attack!

”You have completely degenerated as a knight mech pilot!” Venerable Jannzi accused as her Shield of Samar struggled to block the Skorpion Kommandoʼs venomous tail strike. ”Whatever noble spirit you used to possess in your bones has completely rotted away.”

”How naive! I like destroying you idealistic dimwits the most. Sacrificing your own life to save the lives of an ungrateful bunch of people is futile. We are demigods. We are better than the mortals that you profess to serve. Our value is infinitely greater than the plebeians that expect us to work ourselves to death so that they can live their petty little lives!”

The two expert space knights designed in completely opposite styles furiously collided against each other as their pilots attempted to win their ideological argument by force as well as persuasion!

As these intensive duels and battles continued to progress, the Neo Amadeus almost managed to catch up to the Mars by this time!

Saint Jeremiah Gauge grew more active and excited as his powerful machine was on the verge of reaching its most optimal range.

Their Saint Kingdoms touched each other first.

Two different bubbles filled with true resonance began to press against each other like a pair of balloons.

Neither ace pilot wanted their Saint Kingdoms to give way first. The two powerful men entered into another ego contest as they urgently channeled more power into their domain fields.

It became increasingly more difficult for the ace pilots to hold their ground as the Neo Amadeus kept pressing closer to the Mars.

Eventually, it was the red and aggressive Saint Kingdom of the Mars that gave way first!

As the Neo Amadeus continued to press closer, its domain field started to squeeze into the territory of its opponent.

Although Saint Jeremiah wasnʼt strong enough to completely negate his opponentʼs Saint Kingdom, he possessed just enough of an advantage to make Reginald cede a lot of territory!

While it became harder and harder for Jeremiah to snatch Reginaldʼs territory as the Neo Amadeus got closer to the Mars, it became clear to both ace pilots who possessed an advantage in this aspect!

”Your will is not as strong as mine.” Saint Jeremiah grinned.

”I broke through later than you. Besides, Iʼm four decades younger than you. Your talent isnʼt worth anything compared to mine!” Saint Reginald snapped back.

”Talent doesnʼt mean anything in this fight. It is the strength that we possess today that will determine who will win. My mind and will is greater than yours, and there is no possible way you can catch up to my level!”

Reginald scowled. As much as he wanted to deny it, his enemy was right. Jeremiah enjoyed too much of a head start.

Even so, the Cross Patriarch did not allow this disadvantage to affect his confidence!

”I donʼt need to beat your mental game.” He responded. ”My ace mech is better than yours. Just the fact that mine is a masterwork while yours is low-quality garbage is enough for me to win this battle!”

”I WILL NOT ALLOW YOU TO BELITTLE MY NEO AMADEUS!”

The two ace mechs stopped speeding across the battlefield!

Now that Reginald realized it was futile to run, he fully switched over to an offensive posture. The Magma Vein System no longer channeled as much energy to the flight system but instead directed them to the ARCEUS System so that it could launch stronger attacks.

The Mars promptly proceeded to fire powerful positron beams at the Neo Amadeus as fast as its integrated energy weapons could cycle.

At the same time, the Mars lifted its shotgun and fired a large and expensive transphasic pellet cartridge at its sole opponent.

Though the pellets did not possess a lot of penetrative power, they could still deplete the defenses of the Neo Amadeus.

However, before these pellets struck the ace swordsman mech, Saint Jeremiah no longer held back and quickly summoned all of the weapons his Neo Amadeus had at its disposal!

Every pellet bounced away as a large amount of blades had managed to intercept the ones that threatened to strike the Neo Amadeus!

Patriarch Reginald briefly became astonished now that he had finally been graced with the full form of the Neo Amadeus.

”The Multi-Armed Designer sure did a thorough job on this mech…” He trailed.

The Neo Amadeus resembled god rather than a mech at this moment.

A pair of physical arms had drawn out the transphasic sword and the anti-resonance sword.

Five more pairs of white, translucent arms had extended from the back of the Neo Amadeus and proceeded to grip a dagger each!

In other words, the Neo Amadeus had turned itself into a dodeca-armed mech!

The translucent arms were not material but instead consisted of condensed true resonance energy that the Neo Amadeus was able to summon and maintain more easily through special technology.

Now that the Neo Amadeus had drawn out all of its weapons aside from its plasma sword, the ace swordsman mech lunged forward and began to launch a flurry of attacks against the Mars!

”No matter how many blades you hold, none of them are worth a damn so long as they canʼt scratch my armor!”

Patriarch Reginald resonated with the powerful armor system of his Mars.

As the part of the ace mech that integrated the most phasewater in the design, the Abasis Armor finally showed its worth as a cutting-edge transphasic armor system as its iconic ring-patterned exterior resisted strike after strike!

Even though Saint Jeremiah resonated with all of the weapons held by the Neo Amadeus, none of the weapons were able to break the transphasic barrier generated by the Abasis Armor.

While Jeremiah did not hold high hopes for his daggers, he at least thought his swords should have done a better job.

Any strike that the Mars failed to block with its transphasic axe failed to deal any damage to the exterior of the ace hybrid mech.

No matter whether it was the transphasic sword designed to defeat transphasic defensive measures or the anti-resonance sword that was developed to negate resonance-based defenses, neither weapons were powerful enough to overcome the Abasis Armor!

The defensive power of the Mars was too ridiculous!

Of course, the ace hybrid mech did not remain idle while resisting strike after strike. Its ARCEUS System, its transphasic gauss cannons, its transphasic shotgun continually pummeled the Neo Amadeus, which finally showed signs of stress as it struggled the resist the concentrated attacks.

What was especially troublesome for Saint Jeremiah was that the Abasis Armor also generated a destabilizing spatial field that weakened the phasewater-based defenses of the Neo Amadeus!

In other words, the Mars effectively weakened the defenses of the Neo Amadeus just by staying close!

”Who is piloting the melee mech here?” Jeremiah wondered. ”How can the Mars have more close combat solutions than my own ace mech?!”

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