The Mech Touch

"THIS SKORPION KOMMANDO IS A NEMESIS AGAINST DEFENSIVE MECHS." The Shield of Samar spoke to its battle partner. "MY ARMOR CANNOT RESIST ITS VENOM."

Venerable Jannzi and her expert mech underestimated the potency of their opponent's stinger attack.

Master Charise Denton was not called the Viper for nothing. Her research and applications of corroding substances had reached such a high level that it appeared that not even Unending alloy could resist its powerful effect!

When empowered by Venerable Oskar's true resonance, this corrosive fluid was not only able to resist the attempts of Jannzi, the Shield of Samar and Qilanxo's attempts to weaken it, but also allowed the venom to break down the metals it came in touch with even faster!

Venerable Jannzi was horrified at how none of her defensive solutions were able to resist this insidious attack. Her distraction caused her Shield of Samar to show a gap which allowed her opponent to claim the initiative!

The Skorpion Kommando became a lot more violent as it struck at the melted and damaged portions of the tower shield with its heavy sword, intent on breaking apart this physical barrier as fast as possible!

A space knight without a physical shield was much less capable of performing its defensive duties than normal.

The Shield of Samar would definitely be much less capable of withstanding the Skorpion Kommando's attacks if that happened!

The renewed threat assessment of the Skorpion Kommando prompted the Larkinson Clan to finally bring over additional support.

It did not take long for a series of purple light beams to strike the Skorpion Kommando's resonance shield!

Initially, Venerable Oskar did not pay too much attention to the attacks. His strong willpower easily snuffed out the purple flames that threatened to deal additional damage similar to his expert mech's venom.

However, much of that changed when the distant expert rifleman mech began to adopt a different sort of attack.

The light beams that struck the Skorpion Kommando next caused powerful energy explosions upon impact!

Though these strikes did not leave any lingering flames behind, the immediate release of explosive potential were draining the Skorpion Kommando's powerful resonance shield at a rapid rate despite the relative weakness of the attacking expert mech!

"You Larkinson mechs bring out one surprise after another." The Fridayman expert pilot remarked with notable irritation.

The new light beams drained his expert mech's resonance shield a lot faster than usual, which meant that Oskar had to take the new attacks a lot more seriously.

The Promethea kept putting the Skorpion Kommando under a lot of pressure with its abnormally effective energy attacks.

"I've been tasked with backing you up, Jannzi." Venerable Isobel Kotin spoke. "As you can see, my Promethea has enough firepower to pose a threat to the Skorpion Kommando. As long as you can hold it back, I can keep firing with impunity!"

Venerable Jannzi finally smiled. "Thank you, Isobel, but maintain your distance as best as possible. I am not sure I can keep the Skorpion Kommando pinned."

The two were highly familiar with each other. They practiced alongside each other many times in the MSTS, which meant that they both knew exactly what they needed to do in order to complete their objectives.

The Shield of Samar no longer shouldered the main responsibility of wearing down the Skorpion Kommando's defenses. It instead began to adopt a much more defensive posture. It had to last as long as possible while also ensuring that its opponent did not gain an opportunity to slip away.

The Promethea on the other hand was responsible for grinding down the Skorpion Kommando and disabling important parts and systems once they became exposed.

With the help of the knowledge and techniques imparted by the Alfari Corps Detonation Code Fruit, Venerable Isobel was able to channel the firepower of her Promethea in a way that the Skorpion Kommando couldn't resist as well.

No matter how much Venerable Oskar tried to weaken the incoming attacks with his willpower, the frequent and instant explosions happened so quickly that he wasn't able to mitigate the damage.

Soon enough, the Skorpion Kommando's resonance shield broke!

Venerable Isobel smirked and slowed down her Promethea's firing rate in order to allow her mech rifle to charge up its attacks.

The positron beams struck the transphasic armor of the Skorpion Kommando and exploded upon impact, causing the enemy expert space knight to pay more attention to exposing its more critical parts.

When Oskar saw that the explosive energy beam attacks were actually capable of damaging the powerful and resilient transphasic armor plating of his expert mech, he regarded the Promethea as an acute threat!

This was highly unusual as a mid-tier expert mech piloted by a rather new low-tier expert pilot shouldn't be able to inflict so much damage to a high-tier expert mech like the Skorpion Kommando.

The Larkinson Clan constantly broke the rules concerning mechs!

The firepower of Venerable Isobel's expert mech was so threatening that the Skorpion Kommando didn't even dare to expose its back to the incoming shots.

This considerably limited the Skorpion Kommando's range of movement and offensive power.

After enduring one powerful attack after another, Venerable Oskar couldn't take it any longer. He finally shifted his target away from the damaged but still vigorous Shield of Samar!

"Since you are so eager to rely on backup to take me down, let me tear down your friend first!"

By this time, the tower shield that Jannzi relied upon to defend against the onslaught of her opponent already exhibited multiple large and messy holes in the center area.

Though the attack frequency of the Skorpion Tail wasn't high, it was able to punch through and corrode a lot of solid materials within seconds!

Already the Shield of Samar's burden had lightened considerably because so much Unending alloy had just melted away!

When the Skorpion Kommando attempted to bypass the Shield of Samar and soar straight towards the Promethea in the distance, Venerable Jannzi was not about to let her opponent leave.

"Stay!"

The Shield of Samar tried its best to stay in the way of the Skorpion Kommando, but this was a rather futile endeavor considering that the latter was considerably faster and more mobile.

As a lighter and more compact space knight, the Skorpion Kommando possessed a considerable advantage in acceleration. It was able to speed itself up a lot faster!

Though the Shield of Samar was a lot more sluggish and ponderous in space, Venerable Jannzi and her expert mech still had a way to keep their opponent in place.

Jannzi resonated with her expert mech in a different way. Her mind and will touched on the GT-535 integrated in the powerful machine.

Master Moira Willix of the MTA personally developed this resonating alloy in the past. It was considerably more powerful than most other resonating materials employed by other Larkinson expert mechs.

What was even better was that both Jannzi and Qilanxo just happened to be compatible with this powerful resonating alloy!

The Shield of Samar instantly seemed to gain a lot of mass all of a sudden. It was as if the defensive mech turned itself into a black hole that suck in everything in its reach!

A powerful gravitic force acted upon the retreating Skorpion Kommando!

"Fatal Attraction!"

The resonating ability activated by the Shield of Samar solely acted upon the Skorpion Kommando by leashing it with a powerful gravitational pull.

The effectiveness of the Fatal Attraction resonating ability was highly dependent on range.

The closer the enemy mech, the harder it was for the targeted machine to escape the artificial gravity well!

"Annoying woman." Oskar cursed as he tried his best to break this extraordinary application of resonance with his willpower. "Nothing shall bind me in place!"

His aversion to getting trapped was so great that his willpower partially resisted the powerful resonating ability acting upon his expert mech!

The Skorpion Kommando could not be held in place despite the rather limited distance between the two machines!

Of course, the Shield of Samar did not stay still all this time. It quickly repositioned itself so that it continued to block the Skorpion Kommando's way.

A minute went by as the Skorpion Kommando continued its attempt to break free. Naturally, it also struck the Shield of Samar plenty of times since it was so effective at preventing Oskar from doing what he wanted.

The Skorpion Kommando in the meantime began to accrue a steady amount of damage. Though the Shield of Samar was unable to inflict significant damage the high-tier expert mech, the Promethea was making steady progress in wearing down its target's thick shell!

The Skorpion Kommando's round shield began to exhibit more and more holes and craters as explosive beams kept striking its surface.

It was clear that the Promethea needed to launch a lot of attacks in order to truly defeat the expert offensive space knight, but at least Venerable Isobel was making progress.

At some point, Venerable Oskar Virathon became so frustrated by the constant gravity pull generated by his first opponent that his force of will exploded with anger!

"I SHALL NOT BE BOUND!"

A powerful green explosion erupted from the frame of the Skorpion Kommando!

The eruption temporarily broke the gravity pull acting upon the expert space knight, allowing it to shoot away and build up enough distance to approach the Promethea!

"Run, Isobel! I can't hold the Skorpion Kommando anymore!"

Venerable Jannzi became a lot more desperate as she saw that this powerful threat had gotten loose!

Though her Shield of Samar had managed to withstand the Skorpion Kommando's attacks for an admirable period of time, this was because the living mech excelled at defense.

The Promethea was entirely different!

As long as the Skorpion Tail managed to sting the Promethea a single time, it was doubtful whether Venerable Isobel's expert mech would be able to remain combat effective!

Venerable Jannzi urged her battle partner to activate the Skidrock Drive and catch up to the Skorpion Kommando as best as possible, but the speed disparity between the two machines was too great!

When every expert mech involved in this bout possessed warp travel capabilities, the factors that determined their relative superiority in mobility largely relied upon other factors.

The Shield of Samar was the slowest because it was so big and massive.

The Skorpion Kommando was the fastest because it possessed a balanced, high-end configuration and because a high-tier expert pilot amplified its performance.

The Promethea was almost just as fast as its opponent due to its lighter and slimmer frame, but its other advantages weren't as great!

Seeing that the Skorpion Kommando was steadily gaining on the Promethea, Venerable Jannzi knew they had to change their approach.

"Isobel, swing around and take shelter behind my expert mech." Jannzi urged over the communication channel. "It will be much harder for the Skorpion Kommando to target you if I'm close."

"Are you sure about that, Jannzi? The Skorpion Kommando is too dangerous at close range."

"I can't cover for you if you are too far away."

"You have a point."

Venerable Isobel Kotin changed the flight course of the Promethea and clearly attempted to circle around in an attempt to meet up with the Shield of Samar.

The Skorpion Kommando tried its best to prevent its two opponents from uniting with each other, but it didn't work.

Venerable Oskar paused for a moment before he scoffed.

"Hmph. So what if the two of you met up with each other. I can still destroy you both!"

The Skorpion Kommando charged forward and slammed its physical shield against the damaged tower shield of Jannzi's expert mech!

At the same time, the Skorpion Tail struck yet again!

The tower shield was already in a pretty bad shape, but the two powerful strikes finally caused the center of the object to break!

Two large and heavy pieces of thick Unending alloy floated off into space as the Shield of Samar just lost its main defensive tool!

Venerable Oskar grinned at the sight. "There is nothing you can do to stop me from destroying your friend. The more you stand in my way, the more I will make you suffer! No knight mech is allowed to succeed in my presence!"

"What is your problem, Oskar?!"