Two powerful mechs dueled against each other above the hull of a half-ruined alien battleship! One one side was the Mars, an ace hybrid mech that not only pushed the limits of second-class tech and materials, but also amplified the extraordinary qualities of its powerful mech pilot! The union between ace pilot and ace mech was high, allowing the latter to exert considerably more combat power than normal! On the other side was an unnamed first-class multipurpose mech. Though the machine was unquestionably human in origin, neither its design nor markings gave the Golden Skull Alliance any clue where it came from. Its mech pilot was also skilled enough to control a machine of this caliber but did not possess any notable skills that could help with deciphering his origin. The two mechs came from two different worlds as far as everyone was concerned. They had little in common and were never seriously designed to clash against each other. However, the circumstances did not permit any other outcome. So long that the Golden Skull Alliance wanted to rescue Lord Pearian Yorul-Tavik, the Mars needed to gain the upper hand in this battle! As for the humans who sided with the aliens, they must have their own reasons for saving the alien ship from defeat. As the two machines danced around each other while exchanging blows with their ranged weapons, Patriarch Reginald became surprised at how well the other machine held up against the assault. It was unacceptable for a human traitor to be piloting a mech this good! "Die already!" Each time the Mars opened fire with its ARCEUS System, the first-class multipurpose easily resisted the attacks with its uncommonly compact and powerful transphasic energy shield! Each time the enemy machine employed a variety of integrated plasma weapons, gravitic weapons and more, the Saint Kingdom of the Mars suffered significant blows and reduced its capacity to absorb further damage. "This bastard is still alive!" Patriarch Reginald angrily roared. "Why is everyone prancing around with unbreakable energy shields these days?! What does it take to beat this machine?!" "There is a broad spectrum of first-class multipurpose mechs." Master Benedict quickly replied over a private communication channel. "Your Mars can definitely crush the weaker ones with ease, but your current adversary is several tiers above that. This first-class mech is on par with the best Terran or Rubarthan standard mechs. It still falls short of matching the performance of an MTA mech, but the gap is not that great. The mech pilot also appears to be on par with a mech pilot from a first-rate superstate. His genetic aptitude should at least be A- and he has a full set of augmentations that significantly boosts his cognitive facilities." "What does that mean!?" "It means that the enemy machine can keep up with your Mars despite not being an ace mech itself! It also means that the enemy mech pilot may not be as good as you, but his reaction speed and other basic performance parameters are barely good enough to keep up with your maneuvers. You are fighting against an opponent that is close to the pinnacle of what standard mechs can offer in this mech generation!" "So it's like fighting against a Terran or a Rubarthan mech, that's it?!" Reginald questioned as he continually tried to figure out the weaknesses of his current adversary. "You can say that." Benedict replied. "First-class multipurpose mechs generally hold an advantage in ranged combat. Battles of this nature tend to depend more on the hard performance of your mechs rather than the skills and abilities of the mech pilots. My suggestion is to get up close and overwhelm the pilot and mech with your ferocity. If the mech isn't specifically designed to fight against high-ranking mechs, then it shouldn't be able to prevent your Saint Kingdom from affecting the enemy mech pilot. That may be the key to defeating your opponent in the most efficient possible manner." That was a good suggestion! The greatest advantage that ace pilots possessed over everyone else was the powerful domain fields that they could project around themselves. Saint Kingdoms were one of the few phenomena that could bypass almost every conventional barrier! The Mars immediately moved into action. Its projected cape left a bright red tail behind its passage as the machine flew straight towards the first-class multipurpose mech while opening fire with its transphasic shotgun! Though the shotgun blast did not debilitate the highly advanced machine, the mech that sided with the aliens met the incoming charge by fortifying its energy shield while at the same time generating some sort of gravitic singularity in front! Though the Mars could take this attack, Reginald was wary of moving head-long into this exotic attack. He therefore directed his ace mech to circle around before hacking at the first-class multipurpose mech from another angle! Yet before the Mars could crash its transphasic axe onto the first-class mech's energy shield, the latter opened up yet another gun port and launched out a physical net that was made of extremely tough materials! It only took an instant for Reginald to judge that his Mars wouldn't be able to cut the net with a single chop of his axe. Although his ace mech could still shred the net through other means, that took up a bit too much time and effort for his liking. The Mars evaded the net as best as possible, though its recent changes had made it worse in this aspect. The ace mech was forced to use the flat side of its axe as a tool to push the net aside before it could reach the first-class mech itself. "Break for me already!" Reginald roared as his Mars unleashed a shotgun blast at short range while at the same time lashing out at its target with a kick! The energy shield resisted the attacks just as well as before, but Reginald knew that it was impossible for the first-class mech to last forever. The Mars unleashed its ARCEUS System at the first-class mech at close range, hammering its strained energy shield with the full force of nine resonance-empowered positron beams! However, the first-class mech did not remain passive at this time. By relying on its energy shield to block any interruptions, a pair of hot and burning plasma swords extended from the arms of the high tech machine! These plasma swords struck at the Mars with energy levels that surpassed the original plasma sword of the late Neo Amadeus! While the newly unveiled weapons did not benefit from any true resonance amplification, they didn't need it as the extremely powerful energies fueling their active states was devastating in itself! "You don't deserve to wield those weapons!" Reginald accused as his Mars deftly avoided the plasma swords whenever possible. The emergence of the plasma swords constrained the Mars at close range, but not by much. This was because there was a huge difference in skill! The pilot of the first-class multipurpose mech was definitely qualified to control such a powerful machine, but he was still subject to many human limitations. Reginald had moved beyond that point! He had undergone two major transformations, which meant that his skills, his instincts, his combat acumen and more were far superior to that of any standard mech pilot, even first-raters who enjoyed the best growth environment! There were many qualities that money simply couldn't buy. When the pilot of the first-class mech cavorted with aliens or like-minded traitors, Reginald had been struggling to fight to save himself and his clan from extinction! Even before that point, he had thrown himself in battle every chance he got. He fought for glory and for the honor of his clan. He braved death more times than he could count and vanquished over opponents who enjoyed more advantages than himself! He had earned his way up to ace pilot, and that made him different than this treacherous coward who would rather consort with aliens than to help humanity prosperity prosper! As his Mars continued to tangle with the plasma sword-wielding machine, Reginald's Saint Kingdom passed straight through the transphasic energy shield and directly affected both the enemy mech and the enemy mech pilot! Although the two were surprisingly able to resist the worst of Reginald's influence, that did not mean that they were immune to domineering Saint Kingdom! "Don't think you can mess with the pilot of a first-class mech as easily as that of a second-class mech." Master Benedict reminded Reginald. "Every first-class mech is equipped with a first-class neural interface. There are many reasons why first-class neural interfaces are better than its lesser versions. Chief among them is offering greater safety and security. Not only do they allow mech pilots to get away with more without risking brain damage, they also fortify the man-machine connection that effectively enables both the mech and mech pilot to resist adverse metaphysical effects to a greater degree." "Can you translate that to normal people's words, mech designer?!" "Your Saint Kingdom is less effective against a first-class mech!" "But it still works, right?!" "Barely." Patriarch Reginald grinned as his ace mech just evaded another plasma sword strike. "That's enough." The Mars hardly let up the pace. It continued to maneuver closely around the first-class mech in an attempt to flank it or force it to utilize its plasma swords in a more clumsy manner. The ace mech never stopped attacking. It exerted constant pressure by attacking with its ARCEUS System, its transphasic shotgun and transphasic axe in quick succession and on rotation. Even if the Mars did not have the variety of attack methods of its current adversary, it was already enough to do the job! The poor battleship underneath the brawling machines suffered almost just as much from all of the fighting. Each time the Mars or the first-class mech evade an attack, the chances were great that the hull would bear the brunt of damage. Patriarch Reginald deliberately took advantage of his by attacking at higher angles, thereby making sure that every missed shot would land on the hull of the Tower of Babel! Although the first-class mech tried its best to discourage Reginald from destroying their playground, it was exceedingly difficult to control an enemy ace pilot in battle. "Traitor! Nothing will stop me from tearing apart your precious alien ship!" "Why do you call yourself a human when you have sold your soul to aliens?" "The pathetic alien races of the Red Ocean don't deserve your help! What are you doing here? Since when must humanity consort with the weak?" "Are your parents proud of you? Is this what you truly wanted to do with your life? Tell me, pilot!" It didn't matter whether the first-class multipurpose mech had shut down all communications. The mech pilot sitting in the cockpit couldn't not escape Reginald's questioning as his Saint Kingdom directly allowed him to shout into his enemy ears! Over and over, Reginald pressed upon the mind of the mech pilot. Even if the unknown traitor enjoyed a lot of protection from his active connection with a powerful first-class multipurpose mech, there was no changing the fact that the metal pressure was taking a toll. First-class multipurpose mechs were extremely difficult to control by nature. They incorporated so many different functions and demanded so much more attention that their pilots needed to perform to a much higher standard all of the time. This became a lot harder now that Reginald purposely utilized his Saint Kingdom to attack the mentality of his adversary! The first-class mech began to make mistakes. It only took a single moment of inattention for the Mars to take brutal advantage of the hole and launch extra devastating attacks onto the energy shield of the machine! Still, despite all of this progress, the Saint Kingdom of the Mars was growing increasingly more feeble after trying to mitigate a lot of plasma attacks and other forms of attack. Neither side could keep this up for long! Eventually, a change had to occur in order to break this unwelcome stalemate. Reginald just received a notification of what was about to happen. "The Penitent Sisters and the Glory Seekers are just swinging around the corner of the brown dwarf star! Keep holding back the first-class mech and make sure you destroy as many primary and secondary gun batteries as possible!"