The Mech Touch

Ves finally understood the general's point.

"Are you saying… that we should use Saint Rebecca as bait to keep messing up the Sundered Phalanx?"

"That is exactly what I am saying, sir." General Verle smiled. "Let me put it in terms that you can understand. Previously, I judged that our chances of achieving victory on the battlefield is 60 percent. Now that this unexpected surprise has occurred, our chances of winning have jumped to 80 percent. It is all but certain that our regular mech units will be able to overrun the Sundered Phalanx mech divisions. The main reason why my confidence isn't higher is because Saint Jeremiah Gauge and certain powerful expert pilots can single-handedly reverse the outcome through relying on their personal strength."

"I see. I understand now why you would want to exploit the current situation, but have you ever thought of what a terrible price we might pay in the future if we let a hostile ace pilot slip from our grasp? Don't forget that she has likely built up a grudge against our clan due to our participation in Operation Saturday Market."

General Verle nonchalantly shrugged. "We can worry about future concerns another time. We should pay much more attention to our immediate survival than to plan for nebulous threats in the future. We should not compromise an easier path to victory to solve a hypothetical danger that might not even be relevant if our clan collapses because of making the wrong decisions during this battle."

After a short discussion, Ves eventually acquiesced to General Verle's stance. The Larkinsons truly couldn't afford to gamble with their lives and the future of their clan. It was a great taboo to underestimate the enemy or assume that they were already defeated.

Besides, General Verle put forth another argument that put down any thoughts of trying to kill Saint Rebecca Andus.

"Humanity needs ace pilots. The Mech Trade Association is not entirely opposed to ace pilots challenging each other, because the mechers recognize that this is an essential part of their progression. Killing an ace pilot when she has just advanced and is not in a position to showcase her newfound strength does not align with the interests of the MTA. We will most definitely strain our relationship with the Association and damage our reputation in the mech community if we commit this cowardly act."

Ves frowned deeper. The implication was that the MTA might intervene if Saint Rebecca Andus was truly at risk of dying today!

"I understand. Proceed with what you are doing, then. As you have said, winning this battle is our main objective. We can think about other matters once we have removed the more immediate threats."

"Thank you, sir."

Ves turned his attention back to the ongoing battle. Whether the Hexers were earnest about killing off Saint Rebecca Andus or not, they were certainly harvesting a lot of mechs at the moment!

Due to the chaotic and disorganized reposition of Fridayman mechs, it became a lot easier to pick them off at range.

Hexer ranged mechs were having a great time attacking the more fragile and vulnerable mechs of the Sundered Phalanx.

Even the hardier mechs from mech divisions such as the Medallion Guards were getting eliminated in droves due to the sheer amount of firepower pouring in from multiple directions!

The Hexer melee mechs were starting to make progress as well. Though the Hexers had to be careful not to lose cohesion and make themselves vulnerable to reprisal, their assault-oriented machines were starting to make great progress in overrunning the lagging Fridayman mech units!

The Valkyrie Redeemer Mark II model and its many variants happened to excel under these circumstances!

A lot of Fridayman mechs had either broken up their defensive formations or outright turned their backs against the Hexers.

This allowed the relatively faster Valkyrie mechs to charge forward and run down the slowpokes!

Entire Fridayman mech units became impaled with spears!

Though there were plenty of cases where the professional soldiers of the Sundered Phalanx regained their wits and reformed their lines, they became vulnerable to flanking attacks without too many friendly mechs by their side.

There were also tougher opponents, however. The Medallion Guards especially tried to maintain near-solid walls made out of tough and heavy mechs in an attempt to block or slow down Hexer pursuit.

Though it was fairly easy to shield the crippled Shockshell against ranged attacks, it would be a lot harder to preserve Saint Rebecca if its escort became overwhelmed by a flood of Hexer melee mechs!

The modern Valkyrie mechs were less capable of breaking through these obstacles. The death glows imparted by Helena might be strong enough to waver the hearts of mech pilots, but the Medallion Guards still managed to overcome the fear and threat of death by putting their faith in Saint Rebecca!

Just like Patriarch Reginald, the brave soldiers of the Medallion Guards readily put their values and beliefs above their need to preserve their lives!

"Fanatics! They're all fanatics!"

The rabid behavior of the Sundered Phalanx and especially the Medallion Guards reminded Ves too much of religious nutjobs. Instead of abiding by common sense, these soldiers were all willing to put their mechs and their lives at risk just to evacuate a single VIP off the battlefield.

None of the Fridayman mech pilots looked as if they were forced to buy time for Saint Rebecca's escape. They all volunteered for the job without a word and did not even seem to care that their impulsive actions might hasten their overall defeat.

The only way the Gaugers could be driven to this point was if they truly revered ace pilots such as Saint Rebecca Andus as deities!

Even though the Valkyrie mechs couldn't shake the strong beliefs of the Fridayman mech pilots with their death glows, the marauder mechs were still able to achieve at least some results against the tougher and more organized Fridayman mech units.

Fortunately, heavier Hexer mech units finally caught up and began to engage the defending troops in frontal combat.

What was special about the mainline units of the Hex Army was that they happened to include mechs provided by the Larkinson Clan.

A few of them were familiar sights to the veterans of the Hex Army.

For example, the Blessed Squire Mark II that the Design Department had updated for the Hexers finally brought this mech concept into space battles!

Though Ves, Gloriana and other collaborators still developed a landbound variant of the Blessed Squire, the increased importance of space battles in the new frontier meant that the spaceborn version had become the base model of this mech line!

There weren't a lot of Blessed Squires present in every Hexer mech company, but there was not much of a need to include more.

The Blessed Squire model still functioned as a defensive mech that was able to support the surrounding troops with six different aspects of the Superior Mother.

Most of the time, the Blessed Squire defaulted to the life phase of existence of hexism. This was a supportive glow that injected a lot of optimism in the hearts and minds of Hexer mech pilots without causing them to go overboard.

However, as soon as the situation on the battlefield changed in a drastic way, General Alisky Victrix directly instructed the Blessed Squire to switch to another glow.

"Assume the godhood phase of existence. It is difficult to shake the conviction of the enemy, but we can still give our own soldiers the drive to press their enemies to the fullest!"

The Blessed Squires gained a substantially different character once their male mech pilots switched the glows of their machines.

While the Superior Mother was still the source of the influence they exerted to surrounding mechs, the difference was that the Blessed Squires lost their modest and sunny character.

Instead, they suddenly became a lot more aggressive and domineering, which fell exactly in line with the mentality of most Hexer mech pilots!

The effects of this change were obvious. Every Hexer mech unit showed less caution and made more daring attack runs in order to destroy as many enemy mechs as possible.

Though the dangerous assaults also caused the Hexers to suffer more casualties than before, the Fridaymen were most definitely suffering more!

Ves found it quite scary to see how a simple change in glow could induce such a major change in the mentalities of the Hexer mech pilots.

The glows of the Blessed Squire could not possibly have such a strong effect if the Hexers weren't devoted towards the Superior Mother.

Just like how the existence of Saint Rebecca Andus drove the Fridayman mech pilots mad, the influence of the Superior Mother was enough to drive the Hexer mech pilots wild!

"In that regard, the Blessed Squire is still useful and relevant to the Hexer Army." Ves concluded.

Besides, the Blessed Squire Mark II still retained the energy resupply and energy siphoning systems of before.

Hexer R&D institutions had actually developed vastly improved versions of the original component designs. The Hexer researchers and developers had revised them from the ground up and specifically designed them according to the exact needs and standards of the Blessed Squire Mark II and the Hex Army.

As such, the Blessed Squire Mark II was not only able to siphon energy from fallen mechs at greater speeds, but also transfer surplus energy to friendly Hexer mechs with minimal interruption.

The utility of the Blessed Squire Mark II was so good under many different circumstances that the Penitent Sisters and Glory Seekers had adopted it as well. Almost every mech company was accompanied by at least one copy of the supportive space knight model!

Aside from providing the Hex Army with updates to their old mainstays such as the Blessed Squire Mark II and the Valkyrie Redeemer Mark II, the Larkinson Clan had also developed new and original mech designs that functioned differently than other models.

Ves was particularly proud of a mech model that had already been showing their value on the battlefield for a while.

The unmistakable feminine mech model had become a new favorite for many Hexer mech pilots!

Though the Valkyrie Redeemer line had also earned a lot of fans among the Hexers, its fairly light construction and its lack of depth in frontal combat made it unsuitable for anything but maneuver warfare.

In order to solve the Hex Army's need to field a sturdier mech that could also punch above of its weight, Ves and Gloriana had worked hard to brainstorm a fantastic new concept that fulfilled most of the requirements set by the Hexers!

The result of all of their efforts was a Hexer hero mech that immediately stood out from other machines due to the fact that they wore 'battle skirts' most of the time!

These skirts were made out of many modular armor plates. Though they added a significant amount of extra bulk to the hero mech, their presence also made the new Hexer mech model tough enough to absorb a lot more attacks than the Valkyrie Redeemer Mark II!

Armed with both a mech sword and a different rifle types depending on the variant, the new hero mech model was not a mech that was suitable for beginners, but the Hex Army did not lack for talented and skilled mech pilots.

The Hexers put a lot of emphasis on training a lot of elite female mech pilots, and many of them were both competent in ranged and melee combat!

The new model proved to be even more versatile than the Valkyrie Redeemer. The new Hexer hero mech was able to put a lot of enemies under fire during the earlier phases of the ongoing battle.

Now that the Fridayman lines were collapsing, the skirted hero mechs charged forward and did not hesitate to engage the enemy mechs in close combat!

What was especially ingenious about the new model was that they could easily break up their battle skirts and reposition the individual modular plates to reinforce the chest or form a physical shield on the arm that used to hold a mech rifle!

The incredible versatility of this new mech model and their unmistakable feminine design aesthetics prompted Ves and Gloriana to name it the Maiden of Adversity.

"No matter how a battle changes, the Maiden of Adversity will always be able to cope with the situation!"