The Mech Touch

Chapter 6003  Fast and Furious (CONTEST IN COMMENTS!)

Far away from the underground facility where a certain voribug queen was about to break out and unleash a rapidly replicating tide of voribugs, the Dark Zephyr Mark III flew out of an underground entrance and flew in the direction of the open fields of grass that surrounded Diandi Base.

An exceptionally powerful resonance shield already surrounded the high-tier expert mech!

Despite his exhaustion and his poor physical condition, Venerable Tusa Billingsley-Larkinson had reached such an emotional high that he refused to exit the cockpit!

The new and improved Dark Zephyr was everything he hoped for and more!

Although the living mech superficially retained the appearance of the Mark III, the obvious transition to archetech had made his mech frame a bit more exotic and transcendent.

A powerful E energy vortex surrounded the expert light skirmisher. The Dark Zephyr drew in freedom-attributed E energy, which was largely related to the wind element.

It was for this reason that the wind surrounding the floating machine started to whip up. With each motion, the surrounding wind of New Constantinople VIII seemed to give the machine a small boat.

The Dark Zephyr Mark III also attracted a notably greater amount of shadow energy than before. The Dark Wind Module especially attracted this E energy attribute. If not for the fact that the sun happened to dip into the late afternoon on this side of the globe, the brand-new masterwork mech would have been able to immerse himself in shadow and darkness!

Venerable Tusa had no patience to wait until darkness descended over the planet. He wanted to test his expert mechʼs new capabilities and more importantly verify that he had grown strong enough to earn the right to pilot the Dark Zephyr Mark III.

”VES! Where are you?! Are you coming to fight me or not?! Donʼt be scared! I know you can take a hit!”

Any mech pilot who dared to challenge a mech designer to a duel would be regarded as crazy at best, and an outright murderer at worst!

How could a mech designer possibly defend himself against a high-tier expert mech?

It was absolutely impossible for a single mech designer to do so even if he locked himself in the middle of a well-equipped fortification that was filled with automated defenses.

Without an army of mechs or a few expert mechs on retainer, the mech designer had no way of repelling an opposing high-tier expert mech by himself.

Yet as the much smaller body of Ves Larkinson flew out of the same underground entrance, it became clear that one of the mech designers responsible for designing and upgrading the Dark Zephyr accepted the challenge!

This was completely unimaginable in any other context, but somehow the old rules did not apply to an oddball such as Ves.

This became clear when he did not appear in the open wearing his previous lab coat and toolbelt.

He had changed to an improved and thickened version of the nanosuit he wore in past engagements.

He also held a flute in his hands. The Oceancallerʼs glowing runes were already visible, signifying that the high-level artifact was ready to support Ves in battle.

A part of Ves was happy that his cousin had managed to overcome the phasewater test and become so high-spirited after reuniting with his expert mech.

Another part of Ves did not look forward to rolling in mud and getting beat up by his own creation of all possibilities.

It was extremely undignified for a tier 3 galactic citizen to be dragged into a giant-sized scrap.

Yet… Ves grew excited at the thought of testing his mettle against the Dark Zephyr Mark III.

He was curious to learn how much he could resist a mech as powerful as his most recent creation in his current state.

Even though he was just a lesser phase lord, his true body was already a lot larger than before!

Combined with all of the new tricks he learned during the last lightning tribulation, Ves wondered how extensively he could put up a fight well outside of the reach of a Spark Reactor.

”Get to it already, Ves! Come and show off your full body so that I can beat you down to size!”

Ves shook his head, but obliged nonetheless.

His body slowly began to magnify in size. The dimensions that folded his true body and shunted away much of his mass gradually began to smooth out again.

It took less than half a minute for his true body to tower over the Dark Zephyr!

Even with his latest upgrade, the archemech still hadnʼt increased in mass and volume!

The use of lightweight alloys and archetech allowed the Larkinsons to make the expert mech a lot more powerful while still maintaining the same dimensions.

How much more powerful the Dark Zephyr had become was not entirely clear. Ves figured that he would find out soon enough.

Ves lifted his Oceancaller, which had conveniently expanded to match his current scale, and began to play a rhythmic and repetitive tune.

Although his comprehension of the water element had not made any explosive leaps as of late, his latest sublimation along with increasing his comprehension of E energy as a whole allowed him to exert considerably stronger control than before!

”Mrow!”

Aside from that, a combative-looking Blinky appeared above Vesʼ giant shoulder and began to disgorge as much water-attributed E energy from his internal universe as he could.

The current Blinkyverse had already completed the third stage and made a start on the fourth stage.

Although the large internal universe could not fit an entire galaxyʼs worth of water energy, its current reservoir was still massive enough to easily keep up this effort for days without creating a severe imbalance!

The only factor that constrained Blinkyʼs effort was the fact that the aperture between the two universes was still too small and narrow. The opening had grown wider compared to last time, but it was still not large enough to allow Ves to wield the strength he possessed during the lightning tribulation.

Ves would have to make do. He continued to play the flute until a large water tornado formed around his body.

The Dark Zephyr Mark III continued to hover and watch on. Tusa was not doing nothing. He was analyzing his latest foe while quietly accumulating more momentum.

The high-end archemech began to draw a pair of knives from his rear holsters.

Soon enough, the knives began to release electric arcs, exposing their nature as stormblade knives!

The Dark Zephyr began to assume a peculiar offensive stance.

At the same time, the expert mech drew in more and more shadow energy.

”Shadow Dance!”

The expert light skirmisher exploded into action!

Clang!

Ves flinched as his spatial barrier received a very nasty double hit when the Dark Zephyr instantly hopped forward to deliver a lunging blow!

Before the human phase lord could ever think of launching a counterattack, the Dark Zephyr already began to twirl around in the air before launching another flurry of blows against Vesʼ spatial barrier!

Fortunately for Ves, he possessed enough phasewater in his body to produce a fairly powerful defensive layer.

What was not as good was that the Dark Zephyr was much better equipped to overcome transphasic energy defenses than before!

The pair of knives wielded by the Dark Zephyr were not only transphasic in nature, but also derived power from a hyper tech version of stormblade technology!

This meant that each knife blow not only penetrated deeper than normal, but also released electric sparks that had a particularly destabilizing effect against transphasic energy shields and spatial barriers alike!

Perhaps the only reason why the Dark Zephyr failed to crack open Vesʼ defenses so soon was because the latter had grown a lot bigger in scale.

”ANNOYING!”

Ves attempted to kick at the Dark Zephyr, only for his large but relatively sluggish leg to never come close to the blazing fast expert light skirmisher.

Shadow energy continued to fuel the archemech as the living mech continually flanked and circled around Ves.

Tusa had selected the exact right approach to deal with an oversized but clumsy adversary!

With his current physical parameters, Ves instantly understood that he could never land a single punch or kick at the Dark Zephyr without trying to restrain the machine somehow.

”THE FACT THAT YOU ARE CLOSE MEANS YOU ARE WITHIN MY RANGE.”

Ves first tried to use his phasewater organs to solidify and thicken the space around his true body.

It did not work. The true resonance acting on the Dark Zephyr made the living mech far too resistant to such a weak effect!

Even without the true resonance, the machine could still rely on his powerful parts and systems to overcome the spatial suppression field by relying on brute force!

”Wait, there is an easier way to deal with this trick!”

Venerable Tusa just recalled one of the new features of his upgrade machine. The Dark Zephyrʼs space suppressor became active.

Ves instantly felt weaker!

”Ugh! This is way more disruptive than I thought!”

The Dark Zephyrʼs space suppressor may be small, but it came in the most luxurious transphasic configuration. This meant that it was more than capable of weakening Vesʼ spatial abilities, especially when it was enhanced by true resonance!

Before the expert mech could take advantage of the suppressive effect, a large wave of water collided against the expert mechʼs resonance shield!

Of course, the water infused with E energy was a lot more damaging than it looked.

Although Venerable Tusa did not sense an immediate threat, his expert light skirmisher did not excel at defense.

The powerful machine fell back and paused well outside of the reach of the water waves.

”Stop holding back, Ves! I know you can do better! I can feel it! Bring out the big guns. These splashes of water is hardly enough to push me back. If you continue to fight like this, you wonʼt challenge me in the slightest!”

Ves hesitated for a moment, before deciding to abide by Tusaʼs request.

”YOU ARE RIGHT. I HAVE BEEN HOLDING BACK. BE CAREFUL. I ESTIMATE THAT MY NEXT MOVE MAY POSE A SERIOUS THREAT AGAINST YOUR DARK ZEPHYR.”

Ves did not take action himself.

”Mrow!”

Instead, it was Blinky that began to take serious action. He no longer released water energy from the Blinkyverse, but instead began to channel a lot of light energy.

That was not all!

Blinky actively invited the Illustrious One to descend onto his form.

The design spirit indulged the request and began to inhabit Blinkyʼs malleable feline form.

Soon, the spiritual cat turned into a small-sized manifestation of the Illustrious One!

The bright and vaguely humanoid design spirit sparkled with reflection while also radiating a large amount of visible light as well as light-attributed E energy!

”Ah! That is a nasty move!”

”Heh! It is logical for me to make use of my advantages!”

While the light energy outputted by the descended form of the Illustrious One was not enough to keep the Dark Zephyr away, the shadow-infused machine clearly did not like the additional brightness.

Tusa and his battle partner had another reason to feel uncomfortable as the Illustrious One suddenly began to accumulate a lot of energies!

Not only was the design spirit preparing to launch a powerful light attack, but Blinky himself was beginning to draw a copious amount of Worclaw energy from Vesʼ internal cycle!

Although Worclaw energy took a long time to recharge, its raw power was nearly unmatched. It also happened to combine well with any form of attack.

This time, Tusa and the Dark Zephyr Mark III began to sense a much more acute threat from the Illustrious One!

They felt with great certainty that if the Illustrious One was able to land a hit with his combined energy attack, the Dark Zephyrʼs resonance shield might not be able to hold!

The machine risked suffering actual material harm!

”Tch!”

Tusa already commanded his expert mech to move and circle around Vesʼ true body at a rapid pace.

This should have made it nearly impossible for the Illustrious One to land a hit, but Ves had another response to this maneuver!

”Ylvaine, guide our aim!”

”You damn cheater!”

”Allʼs fair in love and war.” Ves chuckled even as he gained prophetic guidance.

With Ves, Blinky, the Illustrious One and Ylvaine working together to ensure a hit on the highly elusive expert mech, Tusa felt increasingly nervous as the energy accumulated by the Illustrious One was approaching a limit.

”ILLUMINATE THE SHADOWS!”

A blindingly bright flash of light erupted from the Illustrious One! Many sensors temporarily overloaded as they could not withstand the excess light released by the design spirit!

At the same time, a huge light beam blended with Worclaw energy struck the exact position that the Dark Zephyr had just moved towards.

This time, Tusaʼs vaunted intuition did not avail him as the excellent aim of the Illustrious One and the eerily accurate prediction made by Ylvaine negated his efforts to evade the attack!

Yet as the brightness began to fade, Ves and many distant observers reacted with surprise as the Dark Zephyr appeared in the exact same position completely unharmed and unscathed.

The archemechʼs resonance shield did not even look like it had suffered any blow!

”You… did you manage to phase through my supercharged attack? Wait, are you?!”

The Dark Zephyrʼs resonance shield did not grow weaker.

Instead, it was doing the opposite.

It was growing stronger!

The powerful sky blue corona enveloping the expert light skirmisher was not only glowing brighter, but also began to expand in size!

It no longer surrounded the archemech like a bubble, but began to balloon in size!

No high-tier expert pilot could produce such an absurdly large and strong resonance shield!

Only the Bastion could produce a similar effect, but it was not the same as the expert heavy space knight relied on other resonating exotics to produce a specialized defensive barrier.

The only way for an expert light skirmisher to emit such a huge and powerful ʼresonance shieldʼ was if it was transforming into a Saint Kingdom.

It only took a very brief pause for Ves and many others to realize what was happening.

”Second apotheosis!”

Venerable Tusa Billingsley-Larkinson was no more.

Saint Tusa Billingsley-Larkinson had become the very first ace pilot of the Larkinson Clan!