The Mech Touch

As Ves and Gloriana were busy with thinking about the implications of humans and aliens stealing each other's tech, the ace mechs of the human coalition were on the verge of breaking through the strongest defenses of the largest, scariest and most resilient alien warship on the battlefield!

Though it would only take a few seconds at most for the V'gahnt-Zezne to rearrange the energy scales of her first and second layer of energy shields, this was still a viable window of opportunity for the next wave of ace mechs to push through the third and final layer of energy shields!

Only a couple of ace mechs were suited to make this step.

The Thunderer Mark II was way too far away to get inside the protective envelope of the V'gahnt-Zezne.

Even if the ace heavy artillery mech was in the vicinity, its comparatively awful mobility would mean it was far too slow to take advantage of the gaps!

This was why the Saints decided to put forth the Infinite Gear and the Royal Jeem next.

The Royal Jeem was an excellent choice as it could act as a lancer mech in a hurry.

The Infinite Gear on the other hand had already changed into a lancer mech loadout. Minutes earlier, the highly modular mech had shed its previous loadout and integrated the parts that had been launched by the flagship of the Lehrer Expeditionary Fleet.

Unlike lesser mechs, neither of the two ace mechs needed to spend much time on building up a charge.

Their fantastic flight systems and their incredibly powerful Saint Kingdoms were enough to accelerate both machines to a degree that would have torn apart an expert mech!

Saint Robert Montagne and Saint Kalasandra Boojay had already charged forward before the Thunderer Mark II had opened a gap in the first layer of energy shields.

By the time the Mars and the Embodiment of Love had just destroyed the second layer of energy shields, the two melee mechs simultaneously struck the third segmented energy shield with incredible power and momentum!

"BREAK FOR US!" Saint Kalasandra Boojay decreed!

The twin collisions inflicted so much damage to the segmented energy shield that it broke without any delay!

Part of the reason why the energy shield folded so easily was because it had come under the influence of two Saint Kingdoms.

Though Saint Robert Montagne's ability to weaken this energy measure was relatively average, Saint Kalasandra Boojay's ability to weaken and diminish external energy was much better!

The segmented energy shield already became a little shaky by the time a lance and a spear had struck it at the same time.

With the power of two charging medium mechs, the energy scale finally folded!

"The way is clear!"

Due to how much excess power and momentum the two ace melee mechs retained, both of them continued to push forward in the hopes of sneaking inside the V'gahnt-Zezne's triple turtle shells!

"Push through!"

Yet just as the two ace mechs were about to pass through the final barrier, another segmented energy shield suddenly appeared in front!

"What?! There's a fourth layer?!"

"Damn these orvens!"

The Infinite Gear and the Royal Jeem drove their respective weapons against the segmented energy shield, but only managed to sap half of its integrity without inflicting any further damage!

It turned out that the orven battleship's energy shield technology was not as inflexible and restricted as the tech employed by other alien warships.

The more advanced and sophisticated energy shield generators installed on the V'gahnt-Zezne were not able to change their placement along a fixed distance or radius, but also had greater leeway in increasing and reducing its projected distance.

The orvens took advantage of this additional option to reposition distant segmented energy shields from the first, second or third layer and rapidly use them to form a 'bowl' shape around the Infinite Gear and the Royal Jeem!

This was how the V'gahnt-Zezne was able to form a makeshift 'fourth layer' of energy shields!

The only difference was that it could only be applied in a relatively small area.

Even so, this emergency measure was enough to sap the momentum of the Infinite Gear and the Royal Jeem!

Though the seven Saints had already speculated whether the tricky V'gahnt-Zezne had an extra ace up her sleeve, to see this happen nonetheless caused them to feel less confident in their ability to push through.

It took time and effort to charge a powerful attack. Even ace mechs couldn't unleash multiple potent resonance-empowered attacks in quick succession.

The Thunderer Mark II was a slow ace mech by nature and was far from firing another charged volley.

The energy weapons of the Mars and the Embodiment of Love also needed time to build up a charge as well.

pAn,Da n<0,>v,e1 The Infinite Gear and the Royal Jeem had only just exhausted all of their accumulated power and momentum.

It seemed that the ace mechs had no way left to break through the improvised fourth layer of energy shields, but that was not the case!

None of the ace pilots had managed to get this far in their progression without encountering unexpected surprises on the battlefield. They were accustomed to planning for the worst.

"I knew the orvens would try to fool us." Patriarch Reginald Cross scoffed.

At this time, the Thunderer Mark II abruptly opened fire with all of its heavy gauss cannons.

This was despite the fact that the ace mech and ace pilot were nowhere close to charging up this attack volley!

Nonetheless, the ten gauss rounds that surged forward at reduced speed and much less resonance empowerment than before still delivered a lot of damage after they struck the fourth energy shield layer!

If that wasn't enough, the Embodiment of Love borrowed as much true resonance that the Gemini Saints could muster at short notice and fired a relatively potent positron beam with its transphasic energy rifle!

The snap attack struck with just enough power to finally exhaust the fourth layer of energy shields.

The way was open for the Infinite Gear and the Royal Jeem to push forward!

"The way is free!"

"Wait! There are more!"

Whoever or whatever was in charge of the orven battleship's defenses had responded quickly. Many more energy scales from the third, second and third layer of energy shields disappeared from their original positions and formed successively deeper bowls around the two ace melee mechs!

"Damnit, the V'gahnt-Zezne has just formed a fifth and sixth layer!"

The fifth layer was already bad enough, but the fact that the aliens found it necessary to form a sixth layer was either an indication of panic or a demonstration of technological superiority.

Whatever the case, the effort required to break through both layers was exceptionally difficult to the current gathering of ace mechs!

That didn't mean the ace pilots were willing to give up. They were not the sort of warriors who accepted defeat so easily!

The Saints had already made their own preparations for this eventuality.

The Embodiment of Love had completely expended its power, but the relatively slower but physically stronger Embodiment of Sacrifice had yet to make any move at this time!

The ace space knight didn't have any ranged weapon other than a compact energy pistol, but Saint Sandro Gemini resorted to another means to deliver a powerful attack.

Just like what Saint Jeremiah Gauge had done during the Battle of Pima Prime, Saint Sandro Gemini had commanded his ace mech to toss its mech sword in the direction of the next segmented energy shield a short time ago!

Both Gemini Saints had empowered the mech sword with as much true resonance as they could beforehand, but the Embodiment of Sacrifice had held on to the weapon in order to save its power for just this kind of situation.

Now, the sword had soared into space with far greater power and momentum than its modest size suggested!

It arrived in front of the fifth energy shield layer at the best timing and generated a forceful explosion upon impact that almost shattered the segmented energy shield entirely!

Though the Infinite Gear and the Royal Jeem weren't quite ready yet to launch their follow-up attacks, there was another ace mech that was not as burdened.

"It's my time again!"

The Mars had surprisingly surged forward just after it had opened fire with its ARCEUS System earlier.

The advantage of an hybrid mech was that it carried multiple different weapon systems, and that just happened to play an incredibly useful role in this instance!

As the Mars charged forward, it lifted its transphasic shotgun and fired a powerful slug that crossed the short distance and struck the weakened energy scale like a hammer!

Thanks to the damage inflicted by the Embodiment of Sacrifce's mech sword, the potent shotgun attack had delivered just enough damage to break this obstacle.

"The sixth layer is exposed!"

The Mars was far from done at this time. The ace mech initially deployed into battle with a set of missile launchers mounted on its shoulders.

These launchers had begun to fire a full salvo of transphasic missiles that quickly reached the sixth layer and generated rippling explosions that substantially weakened the segmented energy shield in question.

This presented Patriarch Reginald Cross with a great opportunity to launch a follow-up attack!

Though the Mars had already exhausted all of its available ranged weapon solutions for the time being, it had one weapon left that could still deliver a powerful blow.

The ace hybrid mech charged forward and lifted up its transphasic axe before chopping it down towards the damaged sixth layer with all of the momentum that the Mars had accumulated!

The powerful axe strike not only broke the stressed segmented energy shield, but also preserved a bit of momentum for the Mars.

"We finally got through!"

Yet as the Mars and the other two nearby ace melee mechs attempted to pass through the 'tunnel' that they had opened up through their collective efforts, the V'gahnt-Zezne flexed her defensive prowess once again!

Just as many people thought that the orven battleship was only limited to projecting this many layers at most, many more segmented energy shields disappeared only to reappear in front and around the Mars, the Infinite Gear and the Royal Jeem!

"This is getting ridiculous!"

"How many times can the damn alien battleship keep up this farce?!"

A seventh, an eight and even a ninth layer of energy shields had formed around the breach!

Though the eighth and ninth layer of energy shields looked a bit more unstable due to their extreme positioning, that did not change the fact that they firmly blocked the way ahead.

"We can't expand the gap any further!"

The ace mechs that had worked together to break through the successive layers of energy shields had all fallen into a lull state at this time.

The powerful machines and their ace pilots needed precious seconds to accumulate power and prepare for another attack.

The V'gahnt-Zezne was determined not to give the humans this opportunity!

Already, over five of her primary plasma cannon batteries and dozens of secondary kinetic cannon batteries were about to open fire at the three ace mechs that had stopped in front of the seventh layer of energy shields.

Once these city-destroying gun batteries unleashed their might at the breach, the ace mechs in question would have little choice but to retreat in order to prevent their defenses from getting overwhelmed!

Yet if they did so, all of the effort they had put into breaching through the successive layers would be for naught!

Just when people thought that the six ace mechs had failed to get inside, a certain ace light skirmisher suddenly appeared well inside the defensive envelope of the orven battleship.

What surprised everyone was that the ace mech of the Adelaide Mercenary Company had appeared much closer to the hull of the V'gahnt-Zezne than the other ace mechs!

"What?!"

"How did it get there?!"

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