Chapter 3468: Who Is The Pilot?
Gregory Haloscar felt as if he piloted a different mech this time.
Though the Pontifical Lance was still recognizable to him, the mech had become a lot stronger than he was able to conceive.
"Is this what a true living mech is like?" He wondered.
Piloting it was truly a unique and unforgettable experience. He could not even begin to explain how a mech designer was able to transform a simple mech into something so counterintuitive.
Whereas the previous Pontifical Lance was mostly a mech with a slightly intelligent personality, the current incarnation was a machine that possessed a second influence that was driven towards achieving both victory and mutual understanding!
Now that the Pontifical Lance had grown stronger, it began to push at Gregory with greater strength. He began to receive vague notions about prophecies, aliens and ascension.
Although much of it was too convoluted for him to understand, he managed to get the gist of what his mech expected from him. It was trying to convert him to some strange faith.
A part of him rejected this impulse. He was a secularist and never turned to faith in his life.
However, after piloting the Pontifical Lance several times, he became a little more open-minded towards the ideas of his mech. Since it had already proven itself worthy of trust several times, was it worthwhile for him to embrace what the mech was selling to him right now?
As Gregory struggled with this question, he soon received word of his next opponent.
"The Phazeon!"
He had paid plenty of attention to the other mechs in the tournament, particularly those that everyone bet upon. The Phazeon was one of the six mechs developed by the tournament favorites and it showed.
Although Gregory did not know anything about the weird armor system of the Phazeon, he at least found out that it was a lot harder to inflict damage onto this light mech than normal.
"No armor system is invincible. There should be limits to how tough a second-class mech can be." He quickly corrected his mindset. "A good lance should still pierce through this stuff."
As a mech pilot, he was familiar with the concept that a thin and sharp object could puncture through a lot of hard substances. Even if the latter looked formidable, much of its considerable mass and features simply didn't play much of a role when all of the damage was concentrated on a single point.
Lancer mechs excel at delivering a sharp and penetrating attack!
"The only issue is actually getting my lance to hit the Phazeon!"
The commentators held the same thoughts as well.
[What a pity. The Pontifical Lance already struggled with the Dominant, but now it has to face the mech it least wishes to confront.]
[This duel is already over before it has started. Perhaps the Pontifical Lance can still grasp a chance of victory against a knight mech, but a light mech is something else. The Phazeon will never give the lancer mech a chance to run it down.]
[Ilos Naduxe may not rank higher than Hestinia Claes, but he is a mech pilot of the same caliber. With an excellent light mech specialist such as Mr. Naduxe at the helm, the Phazeon will certainly adopt the wisest strategy by forgoing its sword and instead rely on its carbine to whittle down the Pontifical Lance from a distance.]
Anyone with a basic understanding of mechs could see how this matchup would probably end. The Pontifical Lance would blast forward with great power at the start, only to miss the Phazeon as the latter easily swept far to the side.
Once the initial charge failed, the Phazeon would never give the Pontifical Lance a second attempt. It would likely utilize its superior mobility to stick behind the lancer mech and pepper its vulnerable rear with constant shots from its carbine.
Even if the weapon was fairly weak and light, it was still able to inflict enough damage to clip the Pontifical Lance's wings!
The Phazeon did not even need to rely on its unorthodox armor system to defeat a lancer mech in this case!
If most of the audience could figure out this sequence of events, so did Gregory.
As the mech pilot mechanically moved the Pontifical Lance in position, he already began to imagine his defeat.
"This isn't fair!"
The Dominant was arguably the most powerful mech in the tournament and the Phazeon was not that far behind.
Not only that, but he also knew the opposing mech pilot quite well. Ilos Naduxe was the best light mech pilot out of their group and was known to be quite steady.
The countdown started. Time was running out and Gregory quickly had to come up with a means to find an opportunity to avoid his near-certain defeat.
It was at this time that the Pontifical Lance pressed upon him a lot harder than before!
"Agh!"
Though his living mech had already grown considerably stronger, it had mostly stuck to its friendly posture.
All of that had abruptly changed.
Now that it became clear that the Pontifical Lance was facing the toughest opponent in the tournament, it became a lot more insistent about gaining Gregory's complete cooperation for their third bout!
Though Gregory did not experience excruciating strain, he still became distracted by the considerable pressure exerted by his own mech!
"What do you want?! Why are you doing this?!" He asked.
The answer quickly became clear. The lancer mech was no longer content with being patient. It did not just seek his cooperation.
It wanted his submission!
"Surrender…?"
A part of Gregory Haloscar was frightened and repelled by the thought. Just like any mech pilot, he heard plenty of horror stories of how improperly-designed and built mechs somehow ruined the lives of their users as soon as they gained dominance in a fashion.
Whether it was insidious brainwashing or destructive overloads, mech pilots always needed to be wary about any mech they interfaced. As long as they crossed a certain line, it simply wasn't worth it to pilot them anymore!
Yet… even as the Pontifical Lance became more pushy about obtaining Gregory's complete submission, he could sense that it did not have any ill intent in mind.
The mech just wanted to achieve victory, just like him. The Pontifical Lance just thought that it needed Gregory to become completely open to the mech's input.
The words from the mech designer repeated in his mind.
Should Gregory ignore conventional wisdom and put his faith in his mech?
Though he was initially resistant to this idea, when he looked at the Phazeon that was just raring to defeat the Pontifical Lance, he became unwilling to hand himself on platter.
Ilos Naduxe wanted to win so that he could earn greater rewards and promotion opportunities from Hysphalin Industries.
So did Gregory Haloscar. Ever since he was lucky enough to be randomly assigned to Red Ocean, he became aware that he gained an opportunity to transform his previously lackluster career.
As long as he performed brilliantly enough today, he could finally obtain greater opportunities!
Still, how could he do so while relying on his own abilities? Just one look at the Phazeon was enough to dispel his hope.
"If that's the case… maybe my mech has a solution."
The Pontifical Lance certainly thought that it had an opportunity. The mech radiated a sense of certainty that was so absolute that Gregory couldn't help but regain some hope.
Even though it was not smart of him to depend so much on his mech, there was no better solution in sight.
"Alright. You win. I'll trust you again since you're so good."
As the clock continued to count down, Gregory put down his entire guard and embraced his mech even deeper than before.
The mech thrust so much of itself into his mind that he couldn't really make sense of it all. That obviously didn't bother the Pontifical Lance. Whatever it was doing, the bond between them continued to grow stronger.
At this stage, Gregory was no longer sober enough to pilot his mech with full control. There was so much jumbled data in his mind that he could barely maintain awareness of his current situation!
"The match will begin in five seconds!"
Yet the powerful living mech never wavered. As soon as the count reached zero, both Gregory and the Pontifical Lance willed themselves forward at the same time!
All of Gregory's doubts abruptly disappeared this time. He suddenly noticed that he had entered an abnormal state of mind where he was the mech and the mech was him. The boundaries between them had blurred to an extent, yet what he was experiencing right now was absolutely wonderful.
Normally, whenever mech pilots interfaced with their machines, the former definitely held dominion over the latter.
This was a long-standing paradigm in the mech industry. One of the fundamental principles of humanity was that it must always be in control over their tech, not the other way around. Any mech designer that veered from it eventually suffered a backlash.
This was why a situation such as this was rare! Right now, it didn't feel as if Gregory was piloting his mech at all. He was not the main controller nor did he make all of the major decisions that decided how the mech should move and utilize its various systems.
Instead, he felt as if he was piloting a twisted version of a mech that was designed to make use of humans to address its shortcomings!
The Pontifical Lance was alive and intelligent, but it was not capable of controlling a mech on its own. It also lacked certain elements such as the combat expertise that only a well-trained mech pilot possessed.
Therefore, the mech straightforwardly took over a willing Gregory and invaded his mind in order to take what it needed to control itself in the best manner possible!
It was a profoundly surreal experience that would have freaked Gregory out if he wasn't able to feel the Pontifical Lance's purpose and sincerity through their connection.
Right now, both of them had one thing in mind.
"Impale the Phazeon!"
Even though a revolution took place in his mind, Gregory was still able to keep track of the battle. The Pontifical Lance had already accelerated forward at its greatest possible extent. Its arm was already bracing its lance in an attempt to pierce its sharp and long tip through the strange armor of the opposing light marauder mech!
The Phazeon in the meantime already began to whizz around from side to side. It had holstered its short sword and instead held a small shield and carbine. The latter was already spitting out energy beams that scorched and burned the lancer mech's front.
Although this damage meant nothing for now, the story would likely be different once the Phazeon was able to stick itself to the Pontifical Lance's rear!
"We can't let this light mech have its way!" Gregory gritted his teeth even as his mech continued to accelerate forward.
Yet how could a lancer mech possibly nail an elusive light mech?
Moments before the two mechs potentially collided against each other, the Pontifical Lance did not bother to convey any predictions to Gregory but directly forced him to fly to the lower right side.
Yet even as the Pontifical Lance headed in the right direction of the Phazeon's original evasion direction, Ilos Naduxe was extremely sharp and immediately recognized the danger!
Due to the Phazeon's insane reaction speed, the light mech instantly shifted its course, causing it to easily move out of the range of the incoming lance!
"Noo!"
Light mechs were just too damn fast! When paired with a mech pilot that excelled at rapid responses and maneuvering, they were nearly impossible to hit to melee mechs!
Yet even as the two mechs were about to fly past each other, the Pontifical Lance had already begun to make an unorthodox move.
It launched its lance at a strange angle even though the mech wasn't designed to throw its weapon!
Gregory felt a lot more strain on his mind than before during this moment, but he struggled hard in order to track the haphazardly thrown lance.
Due to the fact that the Pontifical Lance was not optimized for throwing at all, the lance quickly wobbled and followed a strange trajectory.
Yet even as this was happening, the Phazeon had abruptly changed direction at the last moment.
It turned out that Ilos Naduxe was wary of any tricks from the Pontifical Lance and sought to make the Phazeon's flight more unpredictable by juking another time!
In most situations, the Phazeon should have easily been able to dodge any attack from a boar-like lancer mech that was only good at charging straight ahead.
It was different this time!
Ilos Naduxe only had enough time to widen his eyes and activate an emergency damage mitigation measure as the lance struck straight onto the Phazeon's chest!
With the momentum borrowed from the Pontifical Lance's charge, the long and sharp projectile almost speared straight through the light mech's structure!
[Impossible!]
[What kind of lancer mech throws its weapon?!]