The Mech Touch

After the Lionheart exercised its integrated luminar crystal cannons for the first time, it proceeded to hack and stab at the resilient bots with its melee weapons.

It spent the most time exploring the power of its transphasic hyper spear.

Due to the fact that the expensive spear was largely integrated with water hypers, Ark quickly discovered that it had become remarkably more effective at overcoming transphasic defenses.

The tip of the spear easily penetrated through a transphasic energy shield as if the latter was a water curtain.

The spear also managed to cut through transphasic armor plating with greater ease.

While it did not penetrate all of the phasewater-reinforced matter like a hot knife through butter, the spear's performance exceeded that of a non-hyper weapon!

Naturally, the new weapon performed a lot more effectively when Ark resonated with his weapon.

When Noah temporarily merged with the spear, every thrust of this empowered weapon struck like the lunges of a predator beast!

"Rwoar!"

Noah's roars regularly spread from the grounds as the vigorous white expert mech deftly maneuvered around the battlefield while spearing through one bot after another!

"Okay, we have seen enough." Ves transmitted to Ark. "You can stow away your spear for the time being. Before we move on to the true exercise, let us briefly test the performance of your Cleansing Light. Just activate it at its lowest combat setting and strike a few bots with it. Make sure to resonate with it to prevent it from breaking down too quickly."

"Roger."

Ark grinned as his expert mech did as instructed.

Once the Lionheart held the hilt of its most powerful weapon, a bright and powerful plasma blade extended from the emitters!

The temperature rapidly rose up as the highly potent energy blade generated a huge amount of heat!

Empowered by resonance, the Cleaning Light not only burned hotter, but also emitted a lot of light, so much so that it could actually blind ordinary people up close!

The power of this high-tech plasma sword was clearly on another level. General Ark clearly felt that he could not fully control its immense potency.

If he ever tried to push the limits of this overpowering weapon, there was a realistic chance that it might blow up all at once!

"Don't get distracted, Ark! Test it out quickly before the heat begins to melt its most vulnerable components!"

The Lionheart resumed its movements and quickly swung its white-hot energy blade onto a handful of resilient targets.

The plasma blade uttered powerful roaring noises as its potent resonance-empowered energies melted through transphasic energy shields and first-class alloys with surprising ease!

General Ark grew ecstatic when he observed how the Cleansing Light easily cut through defenses that had posed a greater hindrance to the other weapons of his Lionheart.

"Finishing weapon, indeed."

It was a pity that he could only test this weapon in an isolated facility. He could not draw out the greater potential of the Lionheart at all because there were troops for him to command at this time!

The only way he could perform at his absolute best was when he returned to the Warborn and led them in a battle against a serious alien warfleet.

Until that happened, General Ark would not be able to discover how strong he had become now that he had obtained the mech of his dreams.

Once the Lionheart shut off the Cleansing Light and gave its heated components a chance to cool down, a second mech appeared in the distance.

"As promised, you can spar against the Macharia Excelsia for the remainder of the session." Ves transmitted to his uncle. "It is best to conduct this test at a more distant field where nothing important is around for you to accidentally destroy."

Ark had been waiting for this moment. All of the basic tests had given him a better grasp of his new expert mech, but now was the time for him to integrate it all into a new and cohesive approach towards combat!

"I am moving out." He spoke.

The Lionheart began to blast away. The air roared around the high-tier expert mech as its powerful flight system propelled it forward with great momentum.

While the Lionheart failed to match the speed of a genuine ace mech, its mobility under atmospheric conditions was quite respectable.

Once both machines reached the designated area, the two machines hovered in front of each other as if they had entered a classic standoff.

Before the two exchanged blows with each other, their pilots tested each other's mettle with their willpower.

The Saint Kingdom extending from the Macharia Excelsia tried to envelop the Lionheart and suppress its light, but the new expert mech stubbornly held its own with the help of its powerful resonance shield!

"Your will is solid, but you are still plagued by lingering doubts." Saintess Ulrika Vraken remarked.

Ark smiled back as he issued his response. "The only doubts on my mind are related to how much more powerful I have become now that I have obtained my new mech. I probably won't be able to put all of my doubts to rest today, but I hope you can help me clear at least a few of them today."

The Hexer ace pilot responded by retracting and reducing her Saint Kingdom until it emulated a more primitive resonance shield.

There were only a few circumstances where a high-tier expert mech could actually put up a good fight against an ace mech.

This was not one of them. The Macharia Excelsia and its pilot needed to restrain themselves by a large extent in order to serve as a fruitful sparring partner.

Ark did not feel ashamed or diminished by this. There were plenty of people who were stronger and weaker than him. What mattered the most to him was that he was able to maintain his progress to the end.

The two pilots did not exchange any unnecessary words. The Lionheart began to shine brighter as Ark noticeably became more excited now that he was able to fight against an actual opponent!

The maw of the lion head opened up and began to release a loud and thundering roar that could burst the ear drums of any baseline human in the vicinity!

"Here I come!"

The Lionheart started off the practice duel by firing a full salvo of bright light beams at the Macharia Excelsia!

Though the ace mech had jerked to the side in order to evade the attack, Saintess Ulrika Vraken tried her best to simulate the performance of a high-tier expert pilot, so she was not able to react fast enough to evade all of the attacks.

Her eyes briefly widened when she felt her simulated resonance shield taking more substantial hits than she anticipated.

Those strange energy beams countered her true resonance in a way that she never experienced from any other expert mechs.

The Lionheart continued to unleash beam after beam as it attempted to circle around the Macharia Excelsia.

However, the Hexer-developed machine was primarily a rifleman mech, so it was easily capable of retaliating against the much newer mech.

The Macharia Excelsia drew out its Hexfire rifle and began to wear down the Lionheart's resonance shield with rapid positron beam attacks!

While none of the attacks inflicted heavy damage due to Ulrika's deliberate attempts to tone down her performance, the pressure they exerted was not light!

Not only was incredibly innervering to get attacked by constant and unrelenting positron beams, but each attack carried the power of erosion.

This was Saintess Ulrika Vraken's favored strategy!

Her threat was not acute, but so long as she continued to launch her attacks, she could fell any target with enough time!

General Ark understood quite well that he stood no chance in a contest of firepower.

He still persisted because he wanted to know how much he could close the gap with his modern machine.

"I AM THE LIGHTBRINGER!"

"RWOOOAAAR!"

The Lionheart began to shine brighter and brighter as all sources of lights became amplified!

Not only was Ark resonating with the integrated luminar crystal cannons to an even greater extent with the help of his companion spirit, but he was also resonating with the only key resonating material of his expert mech!

The Lumosium that Ves had expertly applied throughout the structure of the Lionheart caused the powerful machine to become a greater source of light.

It was as if the high-tier expert mech turned into a star!

Not only that, but resonating with Lumosium also caused the properties of all of these bright lights to take on more mysterious properties.

Somehow, all of the strong lights caused the Lionheart's various parts and systems to perform at even higher levels than before!

That was not all. The light-attributed hypers integrated into the mech frame surged with greater power as well, causing the Lionheart to put up an even better fight against its current adversary.

The momentum of the Lionheart surged as the mech moved faster in the air while continuously striking the Macharia Excelsia with blinding beams of empowered light!

If the Macharia Excelsia was a real high-tier expert mech, then its resonance shield would have started to drain at a concerning rate at this moment!

That was not enough for the Lionheart. The mech continued to fire its integrated luminar crystal cannons, but also began to charge forward with its spear!

For a brief moment of time, it looked as if a meteorite was about to crash onto the Macharia Excelsia!

While the ace mech could have withstood this attack without moving, Saintess Ulrika chose to evade while at the same time triggering the extension of a sharp bayonet from the muzzle of her Hexfire rifle.

The Macharia Excelsia's primary means of fighting up close was by drawing out its plasma blade, but that was far too excessive for the current situation.

Despite sticking to its rifle, the ace mech still managed to deflect the incoming spear charge just enough to prevent any further damage!

Ark did not take this failure to heart. His expert mech circled around and approached the Macharia Excelsia at a more controlled pace so that it could engage in a more intensive spar!

For a time, loud collision noises thundered across the empty terrain as the spear and the bayoneted rifle frequently collided against each other.

The Lionheart started to gain ground. General Ark was highly skilled in the use of many common weapons. He had a special affection for the spear and was able to express his combat ability to a much greater extent!

The new expert mech completely blew the old Travon Exine out of the water!

As decent as the expert mech developed by the Garleners may be, it had not been designed with anything close to the love, passion or funding that Ves and Gloriana invested in the Lionheart.

Ark could feel the difference on a much more intimate level because he was able to interface with his new machine on a surprisingly deep level. As a second skin mech, the boundaries between Ark and the Lionheart had already blurred. The highly satisfied pilot took more and more comfort with the massively improved features of his powerful new machine.

Crack!

The simulated resonance shield of his opponent started to crack as it endured one empowered spear strike too many!

Although the transphasic hyper spear was not the best tool to wear down a resonance shield, the Lionheart was largely configured as a hybrid mech.

This meant that while Lionheart was able to strike with its spear, its integrated luminar crystal cannons continued to put a lot of pressure against the Hexer mech whenever they had a clear line of fire!

The Lionheart had drained a fair amount of energy and accumulated a substantial amount of heat, but the modern expert mech was so powerful that it was not yet close to reaching its limits!

"It is quite impressive that the Lionheart is able to overwhelm a 'high-tier expert mech' to this extent." Ves remarked. "This is not even its strongest form."

Gloriana did not take this result too seriously. "This is only valid in the case where the Lionheart duels against an expert ranged mech of the Phasewater Generation. If Saintess Ulrika is able to simulate an expert mech that is equipped with more up to date technologies, then your uncle would have taken more minutes to wear down his opponent to this extent."

That did not diminish Ves' excitement too much.

At this point, the Lionheart unleashed a powerful roar whenever its spear struck the rifle or the armor of its adversary!

While none of the powerful blows could overcome the much more effective willpower reinforcement of an ace pilot, General Ark still gained a lot of satisfaction from experiencing all of the physical feedback of his successful attacks!

He was confident that the Lionheart in its current state could easily outfight several Larkinson expert mechs at the same time!

Once Ark had his fill of thrusting his expert mech's spear, the Lionheart retreated for a bit and slowly set aside its spear.

The bright and shining expert mech took out its plasma sword and activated it yet again.

"Be careful, Saintess Ulrika!"

"It is not my turn to be concerned." The Hexer ace pilot retorted.

Just to be sure, Saintess Ulrika brought back her Saint Kingdom and made sure it adequately surrounded her Macharia Excelsia.

Once both sides were ready, the Lionheart blazed forward like a comet and attempted to slash towards the Macharia Excelsia.

A bright flash of light struck the ace mech's restrained Saint Kingdom and actually caused it to endure a lot of strain due to the potency of the attack!

Not only had the Lionheart employed its most powerful weapon, but the massive amount of light generated by the active plasma blade synergized with the active Lightbringer effect.

This additional synergy amplified the Lionheart's performance even further!

The bright star that was hovering low to the ground continued to circle around the defending ace mech.

Every second or so, the Lionheart struck forward with another plasma sword attack!

With every attack, the Macharia Excelsia's Saint Kingdom continually experienced great strain!

Although it was difficult for Ves and Gloriana to measure how much damage was being dealt, Ves loosely estimated that every sword attack in the Lionheart's current state was significantly greater than a full-powered discharge from the Amaranto's Instrument of Doom!

The comparison did not entirely make sense as the Cleansing Light did not possess any transphasic properties.

Despite these incongruities, Ves could easily imagine the Cleansing Light overpowering much more powerful defenses in the field, especially when Ark was leading his Warborn!

Once he advanced to the rank of ace pilot and waited until his Lionheart had been upgraded to the standards of an ace mech, Ves could not imagine how much more powerful he would become!

The Lionheart at that point would easily be able to crush the Mars in its current iteration!

"We need to finish these tests as soon as possible." Ves spoke with a hint of dissatisfaction in his voice. "Ark will only be able to unleash his true might on an actual battlefield. Let us hurry up and send him back with his new machine. This practice bout is not enough to give me an impression of our latest masterwork's true potential!"