The Mech Touch

The combined group of humans and Evolver fish-whales had reached the periphery of the Spiral Continent.

Each of the mech pilots and fish-whales exhibited a variety of emotions. Fear, apprehension, excitement, hope, ambition and so on drove them to this point.

The repercussions of the next series of actions were grave.

To the Golden Skull Alliance, the upcoming battle would likely be the culmination of the Purgatory Campaign.

All of the effort they put into fighting against the initial waves of Swarmer fish-whales and opening up a beachhead on the Gate Continent needed to yield a return on investment.

The Larkinson Clan, the Glory Seekers and the Cross Clan already paid a substantial price to make it this far. Not only did they deplete a lot of ordnance and supplies, they also lost a lot of mechs and the lives of actual mech pilots.

The deaths of people weighed heavily on the survivors. To fall against indigenous alien savages was not the most glorious way for them to lose their lives.

In order to make certain that these deaths were not vain, the Golden Skull Alliance was determined to raid the Lake Continent!

Only by returning with an immense bounty of phasewater would everyone be able to justify the campaign.

With enough phasewater, the alliance partners would be able to expand their wealth, increase their assets, strengthen their security and obtain more assurances of their continued survival!

In other words, the Golden Skull Alliance would enjoy such a massive boost that its foundation in the Red Ocean would be assured!

No longer would the Larkinsons and their allies be labeled as marginal figures. The fame, wealth and power they could gain from submitting a lot of phasewater to the MTA and selling them to strategic trade partners was immense!

This was what the mech pilots were fighting for. Everyone understood the stakes. Though the prospect of fighting against thousands if not tens of thousands of phasewater-rich fish-whales sounded intimidating, they did not embark on this offensive without a plan.

Many of them were confident that their leaders and commanders would guide them to victory! With prominent personalities like Commander Casella Ingvar, Patriarch Reginald Cross and Patriarch Ves Larkinson entering the battlefield in person, there was no way that they would lead the soldiers astray!

In fact, Ves still received messages that urged him to return to friendly lines, but he resolutely ignored these concerns no matter how well-founded they were. If anything ever happened to him, the Larkinson Clan and the Golden Skull Alliance would most certainly suffer an existential crisis!

He was not ignorant of the burden his presence imposed on the mech pilots of Task Force Fisherman.

However, he did not waver in his unusual decision to witness a battle by riding a mech that was expected to play a central role because of several reasons.

"I understand your position, but remember who is ultimately in charge here." Ves stated to Casella over a private channel. "You don\'t have the authority to push me away. I need to take part in this battle. It\'s not just about being able to maintain communications with the Cerebral King or being present to issue new orders. I\'m doing this because I am trying to push my design philosophy and my mech design capabilities to the next level."

"Sir…" Commander Casella hesitated. "Mech designers rarely if ever enter the battlefield. While I am willing to admit that you are able to contribute more to our victory than other mech designers, that still doesn\'t change the fact that the gains do not outweigh the losses. As I have iterated before, we can take care of ourselves. What we can\'t take care of is dealing with the aftermath of your sudden and untimely death due to a preventable mistake! You can still change your mind, patriarch. There is no dishonor in returning to Fort Fishblood for a non-combatant such as yourself. In fact, as a VIP it is your duty to stay out of the line of fire."

Ves huffed and crossed his arms. "Don\'t lecture to me about duty! I am the most dutiful member of the Larkinson Clan. Do you know how much work and effort I put in my mech designs so that we obtain the strength and prosperity to make it this far? Do you know how many risks I braved to leap above my peers and uplift the clan into a rising second-class organization? I have gone above and beyond to climb my way up, but I am only part of the way to my destination. There is still a long road ahead if we want to promote to first-raters. Hardly anyone except myself and maybe Ketis can allow our clan to reach this goal, and in order to succeed, we must continue to take the risks that others shy away from because that is the fastest and most realistic approach to greatness!"

The Red Ocean was a dwarf galaxy filled with opportunity, and Ves was not about to waste that. Stumbling into Purgatory was an unexpected event, but one that provided him and his clan the most promising and lucrative opportunity to leapfrog decades of development and hard work!

Aside from that, Ves truly wanted to witness a battle between his mechs and a formidable opponent up close.

Although taking part in a mech battle in the cockpit of a mech was not actually a novelty to him anymore, the various Mastery experiences he enjoyed in the past were all lacking for various reasons.

First, he didn\'t really have a strong stake in the struggle. He couldn\'t care less about the affairs of people like Ivan Barley or Eloise Pelican.

Although other people such as Rion Aaden and Axelar Streon were not as easy to ignore, Ves ultimately wasn\'t on their side. The lack of friendship, camaraderie and shared goals made it difficult for him to appreciate their motivations.

Second, the mechs they used and the enemies they fought against were complete strangers as far as he was concerned. He did not deny the benefits of experiencing how different mech pilots fought with mechs that were different from his own designs, but that left a lot of relevant aspects untouched.

Ves anticipated that he could gather a lot of rare and unique insights if he observed his work in battle from this distance.

He had spent a long time theorizing and imagining how mechs such as the Everchanger dealt with different battle situations.

He witnessed a lot of his mechs in action from a distance.

Yet how often did he have the privilege of seeing his work fulfill their intended purpose while sitting in one of the front seats of the entire show?

He would be able to enjoy the best possible view if he stayed in his current seat!

There was something indescribable about entering into battle while sitting in the cockpit of one of his proudest works. He felt more alive than ever and that was not because Venerable Joshua and the Everchanger exuded a lot of vitality.

He felt more alive because he believed he could design better works if he exposed himself to the same risks and danger as the mech pilots he was serving!

This was an argument that convinced few people, and Ves did not blame them for thinking he was crazy.

It was too bad that the Larkinson Clan did not have a rule that prohibited crazy people from becoming its leader!

"Hahahaha! I truly can\'t wait for us crack open an ancient fish-whale kingdom and plunder all of its accumulated phasewater reserves!" Ves cackled as the excitement got the better of him. "There are so many old and new mechs taking part in this battle that I will definitely get a lot of ideas on how to improve them after today!"

"Meow!"

Lucky became spooked by Ves\' outburst. He abandoned his previous perch and flew closer to Venerable Joshua as if to take refuge in the expert pilot\'s stability!

"Ahem, ignore that please."

Once Ves managed to regain his composure, he checked the readiness of his troops and waited to receive the final word.

Commander Casella eventually got in touch again.

"Our task force is ready to proceed to the next phase. Can you confirm if the Evolvers are also ready to take action?"

"The Cerebral King and his army of fish-whales are already waiting for us to finish our business. They are more than ready to take action, commander."

That was an understatement. The Evolvers had a much more personal stake in this fight. Even though it was extremely risky to attack the heart of another fish-whale kingdom, the cost of forgoing this opportunity was greater!

The Evolvers could either wait for their enemies to grind them down to nothing over time or take the initiative and break the current pattern with one, powerful blow!

Ves briefly glanced towards the Cerebral King. The powerful fish-whale made certain that his fish-whale troops followed his arrangements in the upcoming fight.

Charging forward and fighting the Phaser fish-whales head-on was the last thing they should do! Only by fighting against their instincts and following a specific strategy would they be able to obtain victory without paying too much of a price.

Perhaps not all of the fish-whales were smart enough to understand the greater implications of their actions, but the Cerebral King definitely knew what was at stake!

Seeing that the Evolvers were truly ready to take action, Ves briefly closed his eyes before he decided to pull the trigger.

"Start the operation. Commander Casella, make sure our mechs aren\'t close enough to attract the attention of the Swarmers that are about to pass through. Venerable Joshua, please approach the Spiral Continent."

"Yes, sir!"

Every human and fish-whale became more alert as the Everchanger finally flew out of the main formation. The masterwork expert mech attracted a lot of attention as it openly soared towards the spiral-shaped continent that was claimed by the Swarm Kingdom.

"Switch the glow to Zeigra."

"Are you sure, sir? The Cerebral King said that it is unlikely to work."

"I understand that, but let us test that out for ourselves before we resort to our other solutions. Consider this an experiment of sorts."

To Joshua, switching the Everchanger\'s glow was as easy as turning a dial.

Though Ves was already familiar with this function, he gained a new appreciation of how quickly and easily his best expert mech was able to call upon other design spirits.

The Everchanger instantly gained a more ferocious, aggressive and predatory demeanor. Although the mech itself was still capable of inspiring friendlies on the battlefield, the tone of its aura had definitely taken a more offensive turn!

As the expert mech finally approached the nearest cluster of Swarmer fish-whales, Ves spotted immediate reactions from the grunt fishes.

The white fish-whales hardly noticed the Everchanger beforehand, but from the moment the glow of the expert mechs stimulated their minds, the stupid creatures instantly got riled up! It didn\'t matter if they had never encountered a mech in their dull and forgettable lives.

All they knew was that a potential enemy had come close! The grunt fishes were genetically programmed to defend their territory and defeat any enemies that didn\'t belong to their subspecies, and that was exactly what they did when provoked by the swooping expert mech.

"There are thousands of fish-whales on your tail, Joshua! Keep going forward and don\'t slow down!"

"I\'m already trying, sir!"

Since gathering enough cannon fodder to consume the strength of the Phase Kingdom was an essential part of the offensive plan, Venerable Joshua did not ignore the larger hordes of enemy fish-whales and boldly flew over their heads.

The fish-whales were all provoked! The space behind the Everchanger became filled with fish-whale after fish-whale as each of them sought to bite or smash the enemy intruder into pieces!

"Hahaha! That\'s it! That\'s the spirit! You\'re doing great, Joshua! We\'ve almost attracted the animosity of a hundred-thousand fish-whales, but that\'s not enough. Keep going until you have spit on the faces of half a million fish-whales. That should be sufficient for the next phase of our plan!"