The Mech Touch

It became increasingly clearer to all of the viewers that the Fey Fiannas were not doing well.

They started out the fight outnumbered. The Nelerat Mark I was cheaper than the Fey Fianna, so the opposing side was allowed to field an additional mech to equalize the odds.

Though the Fey Fiannas still had more guns at their disposals due to the fact that each of the drone mechs were tied with 2 luminar crystal cannon fey, the fire beams they continually launched towards the mountain-shaped fortification on the other side of the mech arena still stood strong!

Sure, a lot of scorch marks and uneven surfaces had appeared, but none of them managed to go too deep.

It was not as if the Fey Fiannas were unable to breach the external armor plating, but everytime they did so, the Nelerats always deployed their fast-regenerating energy shields before patching up the holes with a special repair solution!

The continuous cycle of breakdowns and repairs caused the fortification to look increasingly ragged. Yet it was clearly serving its purpose as the defensive rifleman mechs huddled inside remained just as pristine as before!

The mountain persevered.

In contrast, the Fey Fiannas were beginning to reach the limits of how much damage their energy shields could withstand.

The water-attributed energy shields of their defensive fey had withstood a lot of abuse. Just like the fey of yesterday, each of the subordinate spirits had developed their own intrinsic understanding of the water element.

By contextualizing their comprehension in the form of artistic conceptions, they not only improved the defensive performance of their energy shields, but also conjured impressive illusions of mythical creatures or compelling natural phenomena.

Still, all of the whirlpools and dragons could not negate the constant stream of kinetic damage launched by the gauss rifles of the Nelerat Mark I's.

The challenge match so far made it abundantly clear that mechs that were saturated with the earth element enjoyed a considerable advantage against mechs that predominantly leaned to the water element for defense!

Due to reasons that few people understood, earth beat water if everything else was equal.

The Fey Fiannas did not enjoy a defensive advantage that was overwhelming enough to overcome this fundamental weakness.

Though the mech's clever design and use of rotations to give mechs and fey the chance to recharge their energy shields, their restoration rates paled in comparison to the energy shields equipped by their adversaries!

The differences between energy shield generators equipped by the two mech models attracted a lot of attention.

"The rifleman mech's energy shields are getting back up to full strength way too quickly. Is this the tech that first-raters get to play with? It's amazing that P&T can equip such a useful energy shield into such an affordable mech."

"The Nelerat is only affordable in a relative sense, brother. I would not call a mech with a list price of 2.2 MTA credits cheap. It is just because it looks cheap in comparison to the Fey Fianna and all of the other mechs that are subjected to inflated prices. I don't know why the Nelerat's energy shields can recharge so quickly, but if P&T has managed to make it so cheap, then we will paying the price for that sooner or later. Probably sooner. Cheap mech parts tend to break down faster than you think when they are subject to so much abuse."

"Those fast-charging energy shields can block a lot of damage in prolonged fights... but they're utterly useless when fighting against alien warships. A stronger energy shield like the ones equipped by the Fey Fianna might not be able to block all of the damage of smaller warship guns, but they can buy you enough time to eject, whether manually or automatically. I would not bet my life that the much weaker energy shields can neutralize the damage of an initial barrage from a gun battery. They will crumble like paper and allow the overpowering attacks to destroy the mechs as well as the pilots."

"My troops could have suffered much fewer losses with this energy shield model. It is ideal for defensive warfare. I wouldn't rely on them for assaults. Mechs have to expose themselves to enemy fire much longer, and there are no handy terrain features in space where they can take the time to quickly recharge their energy shields."

Many people among the audience were not that easily fooled by amazing new tech. They possessed a wealth of experience and understanding that enabled them to figure out the various shortcomings of the fast-charging energy shields of the Nelerat Mark I.

Nonetheless, the entire challenge match seemed to showcase the Nelerat Mark I's dominance since it had begun. The Fey Fianna which was supposed to be the star of the week had been reduced to a foil when it faced off against its first challenger!

If the other challenge matches started off in the same way, then the Fey Fianna line would definitely stumble as a lot of people would begin to doubt its combat effectiveness in the field.

The Fey Fianna had to win this match. The Nelerat Mark I certainly had its strong points, but the defensive rifleman mech's combat approach was so disgusting in the mech arena that it attracted relatively little support from the audience.

"The Nelerat is supposedly designed to counter alien starfighters, but they were never really a threat to our forces to begin with. I actually wish that the aliens expand the amount of starfighters they deploy into battle. The more small craft they bring, the fewer ships they have left that are mounted with lots of gun batteries."

"I would still choose to pilot the Fey Fianna over the Nelerat if the latter wins. Being able to build your own little metal castle in the field is nice and all, but a single attack from the main guns of a warship can wipe it all out in an instant. Mobility is king in today's battlefield. It is better to avoid a warship attack than to resist it head-on. How stupid can Master Kreshnikbe for sticking to an outdated approach?!"

Despite these complaints, the fact that the Nelerat Mark I was making progress was undeniable.

The clearest sign yet of this was the fact that their repeated gauss cannon attacks had finally begun to break through the final water-attributed energy shields and begun to attack the modular armor of the Fey Fiannas!

Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!

After minutes of firing their weapons, the mech pilots of the Nelerat Mark I's managed to gain a better read of their opponents. Their hit rate improved slightly as they managed to predict the evasive patterns of the Fey Fiannas that were in their sights.

With eight gauss cannons at their disposal, the defensive rifleman mechs possessed enough firearms to box in their priority target and force the latter to suffer at least two attacks per salvo.

All of this damage quickly took a toll on the armor of the Fey Fianna. Their modular armor plating suffered repeated impacts that created dents and destroyed important circuitry.

As the compromised plates started to fall to the arena floor, more modular armor plates moved into place to cover any weak points.

Fortunately, the fact that the Nelerat Mark I's declined to move meant the Fey Fiannas did not have to take attacks from other angles into account.

This made it a lot simpler for the Fey Fianna to use up all of the modular armor plating one by one. If not for the fact that the earth gauss rounds pounded the water-attributed modular armor plating with even greater ferocity, it would have looked like the drone mechs would have been able to last quite a while!

Fortunately for the Larkinsons, the Fey Fianna's continuous fire laser beam attacks finally managed to yield results.

The fortress had been shot at so many times that most people lost count. Though the Nelerat Mark I's continuously deployed their energy shields so that they could quickly fill up the gap with a strange solution, there was only so much of it that they could carry in their mech frames.

Once the Larkinson mech pilots found out that the opposing side could no longer patch up the holes in their makeshift fortification, the Fey Fiannas fired all of their luminar crystal weapons with greater enthusiasm than before!

Slowly but steadily, the continuous fire energy beam attacks melted and vaporized both solid armor plating, earth hyper materials and hardened repair substances.

"The rifleman mechs are taking real damage this time!

The effect of the fire energy beams against the armor of the Nelerats still weren't good. The latter's armor system did not possess any modular features, but the armor plating was thicker and much more resistant against damage on an overall basis.

Together with the defensive reinforcement bestowed by the higher concentration of earth energy in the immediate location, the Nelerat Mark I's showed that they could still withstand a lot of attacks without relying on the protection offered by their makeshift fortification!

The visible damage suffered by the Fey Fiannas looked much worse in comparison. Modular armor plating continued to fall from the exterior of the fey used to shield the drone mechs from damage.

The energy shield fey bravely put themselves in harm's way despite the fact that their energy shield generators needed a long time to recharge. They served no other useful purpose at this time, so they could only use their naked 'bodies' to endure the risks on behalf of their main bodies.

They did so in an admirable fashion.

It helped that the attacks of the Nelerats were not too powerful. The strong earth element amplification made every kinetic attack hit harder, but that was of limited use when the caliber of the gauss rifles was not that big to begin with. The highly responsive adaptive modular armor system designed by Beatrice Hendrix cleverly adapted to the current circumstances and already pulled out spare modular armor plating and kept them ready so that they could quickly swoop in and cover a gap in defenses as soon as it appeared!

The challenge match entered into an odd new equilibrium at this time.

The Fey Fiannas were continuing to endure all of the incoming kinetic attacks by expending the modular armor plating at a relatively fast rate.

The Nelerat Mark I's were huddling inside their half-broken fortification while relying on a combination of their fairly tough armor systems along with the occasional relief provided by their fast-charging energy shields.

It looked as if this match had truly devolved in a contest of endurance!

Since neither side had any overwhelmingly powerful attack methods at their disposal, they simply resorted to trading attacks back and forth while relying on their relatively high defenses to remain in the fight.

"Is this your secret master plan, professor?" Master Kreshnik commented in a bemused tone. "Are you trying to show off the defensive capacity of your Fey Fianna when they have expended their energy shields? It is a decent idea. Your drone mechs can last for a notable amount of time so long as the match remains static. However... who says that the mechs must remain on the opposite sides of the arena?"

Just after he spoke, the situation in the large arena field abruptly changed.

After many minutes of fighting out an artillery barrage at opposing ends, one side seemingly got tired by this game.

The Nelerat Mark I's abruptly burst from their burned and melted mountain fortification and soared in the air like butterflies breaking out of their cocoons!

Their fast-charging energy shields resisted numerous salvos of fire energy beam attacks as the exposed rifleman mechs boldly flew forward to close in on the Fey Fiannas!

Not only were the Nelerats attempting to close the distance against the opposing drone mechs, they were also starting to split up so they could approach their enemies from multiple angles!

This was bad for the Fey Fiannas as the mechs expended so many modular armor plating that it became much easier for the opposing rifleman mechs to target their exposed weak points!