The Mech Touch

The fated day had come. The final matches of the first round for Group A had commenced.

First up, the Ginetzy Battalion fought against the Heartfall Battalion.

Each of them had learned from their previous battles against the other battalions. They were both aware that they had exposed much of their strength and strategies in the previous matches, so they adapted their mech rosters and battle approaches for their final bout in this round.

The Heartfall Security Enterprise already regretted the decision to take part in this enormous event. Its battalion was pretty much guaranteed to end their tournament participation today. Still, it would be far too shameful for the Heartfallers to bow out of this grand event with not a single win to their name!

To that end, the Heartfall Battalion deployed an unusual mix of mechs consisting of a large amount of offensive knight mechs!

The mercenary organization wasn't short of mechs, so it could easily swap out their previous machines for hundreds of offensive knight mechs.

Everyone in the audience was completely surprised by the abrupt change in strategy. Although the Heartfallers looked as if they had gone mad, there was a certain brilliance to their extreme decision.

"These knight mechs are not only tough, but also moderately fast! Many of them will be able to survive bombardment long enough to reach the fortified position of the Ginetzy Battalion. As long as they can breach the shield and get inside, they can likely withstand several suicide explosions before they are finally taken out of the fight!"

The Heartfallers abandoned all nuance and committed to the most stupid, foolproof battle strategy to squeeze out a win!

If they succeeded, they would have been able to redeem themselves.

If they lost, then the Heartfall Security Enterprise would probably find it much more difficult to conduct business in the Red Ocean!

It was a pity that this gamble failed. The Ginetzy Battalion did not change much, but deployed additional knight mechs that successfully stalled the advance of a lot of Heartfall mechs!

This enabled the Ginetzy ranged mechs to fire their weapons with impunity for a significantly longer time. Though the Ginetzys lost a lot of mechs at the end, they still managed to bury all of the Heartfall mechs!

The Larkinsons weren't happy with this result. With 2 wins, the Ginetzys had a good chance coming out on top when the tie-breaker rules went into effect.

"You've seen what happened in the arena." Commander Casella addressed her fellow Larkinson mech pilots. "The Ginetzy Battalion has 2 wins now. If we don't beat the Quizlams, we'll end up with the same amount. It will be up to the referees to decide which battalion in Group A gets to advance to the next round. Will you allow these referees to decide our fate or will you take matters into our own hands?"

"We'll beat the Quizlams!"

"We're not going to let any of these clowns get their way!"

"Then stick to the plan and follow your instructions! The Quizlams may have been able to abuse the Heartfallers, but we are ready for their tricks!"

Once both the Larkinson Battalion and the Quizlam Battalion entered the arena, the dynamic battlefield changed into an odd environment.

Entire city structures had risen up from the floor as the entire environment began to resemble a dense urban metropolis!

"Damnit! Why a city of all possibilities?!"

"This is a paradise for the Quizlams!"

"Shut up and focus on your own duties! We've already accounted for this scenario. The Quizlams may favor urban battlefields, but the cramped terrain makes it easier for us to get close to them as well."

The urban battlefield for this match had several important consequences.

First, long-ranged detection was considerably less effective because all of the reinforcements were packed with dense materials and electronic systems.

Second, aerial mechs had to watch their movements carefully and could not fly as freely as before. The only way for them to move without hindrance was to fly above all of the structures, but they couldn't do much in that situation.

Third, ranged mechs were severely constrained due to all of the obstacles in their way. The artillery mechs had it worse as they needed to knock down a lot of structures before they could land their attacks on distant targets.

Although the Quizlam Battalion probably felt at home in a highly urbanized battlefield, the Larkinson Battalion wasn't all that bothered by it. Commander Casella quickly issued a series of instructions as she thought about how her men could defeat the Quizlams.

"We're not good at entrenching ourselves, but we can't split up and chase after every shadow either. We need to keep moving around. We also have to stay close enough to each other to prevent our mechs from getting defeated in detail."

The Larkinson Battalion did just that. Different mech companies began to spread around to an extent so that they were able to occupy multiple adjacent streets at the same time.

While Casella preferred to concentrate all of her troops on the same avenues, the city didn't offer enough space to do so. Forcibly cramming 500 mechs in a single street would only make them all vulnerable to wide-area attacks!

Most of the mechs stayed on the ground though the Valkyrie Redeemers and the Ferocious Piranhas had taken flight. They needed to remain mobile in order to remain effective and would only become more constrained if they had to rely on their legs to move around.

"The smoke is coming!"

The Quizlam Battalion had already acted as quickly as possible. Their mechs erected strong interference fields and launched a large amount of canisters that released signal-blocking particles in the air. Every conventional sensor system could no longer return anything solid beyond a hundred meters while communication signals didn't fare much better!

Under these conditions, the outlying Larkinson mech units became more vulnerable to concentrated attacks.

"We're under attack!"

A barrage of physical projectiles emerged from the mist and struck the mechs of this isolated formation!

"Hunker down!"

Fortunately, all of the outer mech units of the Larkinson Battalion possessed plenty of defensive mechs. The Bright Warriors in knight mech configuration all planted their tower shields on the street and withstood the withering fire while providing cover to other friendly mechs.

The other Larkinson mechs didn't try to charge in the direction of the enemy attack. They had learned from the Heartfallers that they would just stumble into an ambush prepared by the Quizlam Battalion.

The problem was that hunkering down was not a permanent solution. Sure, the knight mechs were able to block the attacks for now, but their shields and armor would get chewed through eventually.

Though the rifleman mechs in the same unit tried to fire back with their luminar crystal rifles, all of that firepower wouldn't make a difference if they didn't know where to aim!

This was where the two Transcendent Punishers came in. The Ylvainan mechs soon fired out guiding positron beams and gauss rounds at certain directions.

Just an instant later, the Avatar ranged mechs followed suit!

Now that they had practiced this combination play, the cooperation between the Avatars of Myth and the Eye of Ylvaine was much better than before.

Yet beyond the sight of their sensors, their attacks mostly hit nothing but useless structures!

It turned out that the Quizlam ranged mechs had always made sure to hide as much of their frames behind the corners of different street structures as possible.

Since the arena simulated a prosperous second-class city, the massive buildings were tough enough to withstand a lot of collateral damage. Due to their sheer size and mass, the structures were not that much weaker than mech armor!

"Our return fire is not hitting enough Quizlam mechs!" An Ylvainan mech lieutenant said.

How he knew that without being able to observe their distant attackers through the mist was a mystery, but none of the Larkinsons tangled over this little detail.

The right response to this was to beat a slow and steady retreat towards the main elements of the Larkinson Battalion.

However, that would be a mistake! The Larkinson mech units would just contract further and surrender all of their initiative to their opponents.

Although the mech pilots all knew what they had to do, it was quite difficult for them to maintain their cool while they let the annoying Quizlam ranged mechs fire at them with impunity. It was not in the nature of the Larkinsons to let their opponents have their way!

Boom!

Boom!

Boom!

Fortunately, the organized response of the Larkinson Battalion had finally come!

A moderate distance away, a group of Valkyie Redeemers and Ferocious Piranhas swooped down from above and overtook the Quizlam mechs that had been firing their kinetic weapons at the distant Larkinson mech unit!

The ranged mechs did not expect the Larkinsons to be able to figure out their locations so soon, let alone communicate their findings to different mech units.

In order to make sure that the Larkinson Battalion didn't rely on wired communications or other ECM-resistant communication methods, the Quizlam Battalion had secretly snuck in a lot of stealth mechs throughout the Larkinson mech elements!

"How is this possible?!"

"Warn the others!"

"It's too late! Our other sniping units are also under attack!"

Almost a hundred Quizlam ranged mechs were being assaulted by a similar number of Larkinson aerial mechs.

In each and every case, the Larkinson mechs responded quickly and managed to find the actual positions of the Quizlam mechs despite the latter relocating after every few shots!

Though the Quizlam ranged mechs along with their melee escorts fought back as best as possible, the Flagrant Vandals and Penitent Sisters combined both their glows and managed to torture and terrify the minds of the Quizlam mech pilots to such an extent that they had lost a lot of focus!

"Hahaha, these Quizlam mechs aren't so scary now that we're able to pinpoint their coordinates!" A Vandal mech pilot laughed.

The Quizlam mechs excelled in situations where they had the upper hand. Yet now that they had lost control, their weakness in direct combat immediately became apparent. The Larkinson mechs were simply better now that they had successfully closed in on their opponents!

"Thanks for leading us to the right location, Sisters."

"It is of no issue."

The Penitent Sisters hadn't just deployed their Valkyrie Redeemers this time. While the women were very fond of this mech model, they also brought in an additional mech model this time!

Originally designed for the Hex Army, the sole Cherub mech in their midst was a highly conspicuous newcomer in the Larkinson mech lineup.

The Larkinson Clan never saw the need to employ this mech model until now. The auxiliary mech was small, cheap, fragile and practically defenseless against enemy mechs.

Yet it possessed one powerful capability that was extremely useful for this match.

Every Cherub mech was able to maintain contact with other Cherub mechs as long as they were in the same star system!

In a battlefield like this, it was no problem for the dozens of Cherub mechs that were spread throughout the different Larkinson mech elements to stay in contact with each other. By relying on the spiritual communication network maintained by the Superior Mother, these auxiliary mechs completely negated every attempt of the Quizlams to cut off the Larkinson Battalion's communications!

This effectively meant that despite all of the effort the Quizlams had put into blinding and isolating the individual Larkinson elements, Commander Casella and every other clansmen remained in full contact with each other!

Honestly speaking, the Larkinson Clan could have relied on other methods to achieve the same effect if it really wanted to. The problem was that it was much harder to explain why the Larkinsons were able to maintain contact with each other through all of the interference.

The Cherub mech model was already a familiar product to the Mech Trade Association. Hundreds of thousands of them were being employed each day across the frontlines of the Komodo War. The Hexers maintained a distinct coordination advantage in large and complex battlefields with the help of this old male-oriented auxiliary mech model.

This wasn't the only surprise the Larkinson Battalion had in store against their current opponent. Now that the Quizlams were caught off-balance, Commander Casella quickly issued her next command.

"Swat the flies!"

Shortly afterwards, more than a dozen hidden Quizlam mechs situated close to the Larkinson mechs became exposed as their stealth systems malfunctioned.

Even though the Quizlam stealth mechs had been clever by staying out of the direct line of sight of any Transcendent Punishers, the Larkinsons still managed to attack them without giving them a chance to retreat.

The Devious mechs briefly became exposed as well once they slipped their daggers through the backs of their oblivious Quizlam counterparts.

The Devious was another exclusive Hexer mech design that the Hexadric Hegemony used to good effect! Although their stealth systems weren't top-of-the-line, the Quizlam stealth mechs didn't specialize in detection.

Yet even if that was the case, how could the Larkinsons detect all of their hidden elements? Was the Larkinson Battalion's sensor technology much more advanced than the Quizlams had realized?

It was too bad that the Larkinsons weren't in the mood to answer their questions… Scores of sneaky Quizlam mechs quietly met their end as they were abruptly rooted out without warning.