Chapter 3894: Stripped Masks
The battle between the coalition and the Phasers had reached a later stage.
Hardly any mech or fish-whale was able to fight as well as they did at the start.
Numerous ranged mechs had begun to bottom out their energy reserves while a lot of melee mechs incurred varying degrees of damage.
The fish-whales weren't in a better shape either. It was rare to see an Evolver or a Phaser with unharmed bodies. Many of their hides or scales were dyed with blood. Some even lost entire chunks of flesh as the fish-whales were not above eating their opponents!
Meanwhile, the dangerous confrontation between the Phase King and the Cerebral King resulted in a lot of mutual damage.
Both of them were powerful creatures, and they had always made preparations to fight against their fellow kings!
The Cerebral King turned into a reckless fighter that constantly tried to press up against the Phase King.
On occasion, the leader of the Evolution Kingdom unleashed a powerful energy beam that never failed to put the Phase King in distress.
The latter had put up so many spatial barriers, only for them to break as they were unable to cope with the damage output of the Cerebral King!
The Phase King already understood that remaining on the defensive was not a winning formula. In desperation, it began to employ a myriad of faster but weaker phasewater abilities in an attempt to grind the Cerebral King with as many wounds as possible!
Storms, spatial tears and other forms of attacks constantly wore at the Cerebral King's massive body, but the wounds were not that serious.
Part of that was because the Cerebral King continually improved its ability to stabilize the space around it! The Phase King had to fight against an increasing amount of resistance just to shake nearby space!
Another part was because the Cerebral King possessed superior regeneration capabilities. Its powerset was more comprehensive due to all of the exquisite organs it had researched and integrated into its own body.
The Phase King, which initially possessed the upper hand at the beginning, was beginning to flag from all of the exertion.
In contrast, the Cerebral King was still putting up a respectable fight despite its own setbacks!
The starship-grade power reactor that it had integrated in the deepest part of its body was still churning out a constant flow of energy. None of the Cerebral King's organs were starving of energy, allowing it to perform the same intensive abilities as before!
Aside from that, the constant harassment from the Bolvos Rage was taking its toll. Though Patriarch Reginald did not close in as often as before, his expert mech frequently attacked the existing wounds of the Phase King.
It was enough to make the sovereign of the Phase Kingdom feel concerned about its chances of winning this duel.
ABNORMAL. UNREASONABLE. TOO MUCH ENERGY.
SUPERIOR BODY. BETTER ORGANS. ALREADY EVOLVING. VICTORY INEVITABLE.
FALSE. KIN FALTERING. OUTSIDERS DYING. OBSERVE.
The Cerebral King may be getting the upper hand at this stage of the battle, but the elite Phasers were making a lot more progress!
The Phasers started out with a numbers advantage. The Evolvers and the human mechs had done their best to whittle them down, but it wasn't enough!
The rate of casualties rose as more and more mechs and fish-whales displayed vulnerabilities. Though both sides were losing their combatants at a worrying rate, the Phasers had deeper reserves since they were fighting close to their home ground at the moment!
As the mech pilots of Task Force Fisherman continued to put their all in this desperate fight, Ves became increasingly more inspired at the sights.
He had never stopped paying attention to the performance of all of his mechs. Observing them from this unique position indeed allowed him to evaluate his work from a different perspective.
He spotted numerous flaws and shortcomings that he felt compelled to change once he came around to update his existing designs.
He also gained new ideas on extra features that he could add to the next editions of his designs.
Ves slowly frowned. "I have made so many design choices without sufficiently imagining how it would impact their performance in a battle like this. What worked out great in my mind has turned into a suboptimal solution in reality."
This was a humbling experience, but also a productive one. He knew for certain that his next mech designs would perform substantially better on the battlefield!
There was no way he wanted his mech pilots to suffer from the inadequacies that he had previously overlooked. He wouldn't be a good mech designer if that was the case!
As Ves feasted on the sight of all of his mechs resisting against the Phasers in their own ways, he eventually harvested enough insights for him to remain busy for years.
It was easy to spot mistakes and flawed implementations. It was a lot harder to come up with better alternatives to solve the problems that he had identified!
"That's a matter for later."
Ves did not solely focus on the machines that he had designed and in some cases built with his own hands.
As someone who dedicated himself to the pursuit of mutual growth, he also paid attention to the state and performance of the mech pilots.
He used his command authority to access the full data telemetry of every Larkinson mech.
When he switched the view to the interior of the cockpits, he observed a myriad of expressions behind the transparent faceplates of the pilots.
He spotted a range of emotional reactions such as anger, fury, hatred, resignation and glee.
The longer the battle went on, the more the mech pilots lost control of themselves.
The deaths and the struggles wore away at their composure and revealed what they were truly like.
To Ves, it was as if the rigors of battle stripped away their masks. Their rationality began to slide, allowing their primal nature to dominate their decisions.
Of course, there were still major differences between backgrounds and mech legions. The Avatars still exuded a lot of professionalism while the Swordmaidens fought like chained beasts.
"It's… beautiful."
Even though it looked as if many mech pilots had devolved into their more primal selves, to Ves they had finally discarded the falsehoods and the trappings of society that distorted their behavior.
Now that the battle had stripped all of these burdens, the mech pilots drew strength from what they were actually fighting for as opposed to what expectations had set upon their shoulders.
Ves became inspired by the states of all of the mech pilots. He too became affected by this effect given that the Everchanger was participating in the very same battle!
At this time, he gained another inspiration.
His eyes burned with fire even as his expression became more ambivalent.
The idea he just came up with was a radical move that was bound to produce a lot of ripple effects.
Ordinarily, he would never think about engaging in such an extreme measure, but when he saw how so many mech pilots wished to win or survive this battle at any cost, he couldn't bring himself to turn away from this measure.
To him, this was the perfect moment to unleash a storm of his own. The mech pilots were all primed and the battle had reached a critical moment!
"Joshua." He spoke.
"Yes, sir?" The expert pilot replied in a stressed tone as he did his best to prevent a Phaser from biting another mech.
"I need you to employ your glow amplification ability once again. The battle is not proceeding well for us, so I need you to get serious in order to turn the tide."
Joshua perked up. So far, he had been fighting rather conservatively. While this allowed him and the Everchanger to maintain their reserves, it was painful for them to not do their best as their fellow Larkinsons suffered.
"What do you have in mind?"
"I want you to do this…"
Out of all of the instructions that Ves could possibly give, Joshua never expected such a bizarre measure!
"Ves…"
"I know what I'm talking about. Just do what I say. Have I ever let you down, Joshua?"
Though Venerable Joshua was not certain about this plan, he did not object for long.
The expert pilot took a deep breath before switching the glow of the Everchanger to Lufa.
The machine gained a more peaceful demeanor, but not for long.
Joshua, the Everchanger and Lufa himself were already working together to modify how the glow was being expressed.
A few tweaks here and there caused the glow to take on a more active and inspirational character.
Ves began to grin as he felt the changes himself. "Yes… that's it… that's the right configuration. Proceed to spread it so that our mech pilots can benefit from this effect! Get as close to the front as you can and make sure the glow affects as many of our soldiers as possible!"
The Everchanger flew forward even as it began to emit more light!
As Venerable Joshua began to resonate with the Iridescent Mercury integrated into the expert hero mech, its glow began to stretch across several kilometers, which was enough to affect the minds of many mech pilots within range!
Avatars, Vandals, Swordmaidens, Penitent Sisters, Glory Seekers and Crossers all fell under the influence of the most audacious glow created by Ves!
The mech pilots themselves did not immediately notice the difference. They had become so invested in their fight that the effects of the glow did not significantly alter their approach.
This was because the Everchanger's amplified glow already aligned with their current mentalities!
As the seconds went by, the mech pilots slowly began to exhibit more changes as they fought.
They became more desperate. They fought as if they were chasing after a goal that had come tantalizingly close. They pushed themselves to their limits in the hopes that they could exceed them and change the course of this battle!
After half a minute, the first dam had finally burst!
One of the Enlightened Warriors trying to tear apart the flesh of an injured Phaser exploded with power as its mech pilot finally exceeded the threshold that she had always tried to surpass!
Jessica Quentin did not even notice that she had fulfilled one of her greatest dreams and finally put her foot on the path to greatness.
All she cared about was wiping out as many of these hateful alien creatures as possible in order to avenge her fallen comrades!
"ALL FISH-WHALES MUST DIE!" She roared even as her Enlightened Warrior exhibited performance far beyond the parameters on its spec sheet!
She didn't even listen to the Quint's snarky remarks as she focused on slaying the elite Phaser that was responsible for giving her fellow mecher a disgraceful and unworthy death!
"SUFFER FOR ME, MONSTER!"
The Enlightened Warrior seemingly turned into a whirlwind as its twin swords struck the side of the Phaser with a flurry of strikes!
The injured creature had attempted to punt the mech away with a weakened tail strike, but the forced resonance acting upon the machine blocked most of the damage!
The glowing Enlightened Warrior only bounced away for a short amount of time before it dove right back in to resume its effort to induce pain on the alien creature!
Even as Jessica Quentin utilized her newfound powers to savage ends, several other mechs around mechs exploded with forced resonance as well!
Four Enlightened Warriors exhibited similar traits as their mech pilots broke through at nearly the same time!
Ten seconds later, two Crosser mechs and a Glory Seeker mech produced the same reactions!
The fish-whales from both sides started to slow down as over a dozen mechs and counting began to manifest far more power than they were supposed to! The sight was unlike anything they had ever experienced!
In the meantime, the Everchanger continued to circle around the battlefield in an effort to unlock the potential of as many mech pilots as possible!
At this time, the Everchanger was no longer just an expert mech.
It had become the personification of the Aspect of Transcendence!