The unleashing of the battle formations instantly changed the game. The impact on the aliens was enormous. They had never experienced anything comparable to what just happened. The brief appearance of Helena along with all of the other strangeness even caused the more superstitious ones to believe that the Golden Skull Alliance had gods on its side! The reaction from the other pioneering groups was also noteworthy. Unlike the alien pirates of the Palace of Shame who only appeared to collect general information about the human invaders, the Gemini Family and the other pioneers already knew what would happen in advance. They did not react too strongly in the past when they saw the battle formations do their work in a prior battle that none of them cared about. It was different now that they were not only close enough to sense a hint of Helena's majesty, but also saw the Larkinsons and the Glory Seekers make short work of over half of the warships in their way! Among the temporary battle comrades of the Golden Skull Alliance, none of them understood the truth of what just happened better than their ace pilots! Even if none of them possessed Ves' deep understanding and perception of spirituality, they had all evolved into partial energy life forms at their current stage. Combined with their incredibly strong force of will and their unreasonably strong combat intuition, they could easily notice details and make inferences that were beyond the reach of ordinary people. Saint Jelmer Osenring who piloted the Thunderer Mark II possessed the clearest overview of the battlefield. He is expression grew grave as he understood the trump cards of the Golden Skull Alliance to a greater extent. "They are borrowing power from another source. What they have managed to develop for themselves is far beyond the power that they should ordinarily possess." The first question on his mind was not how the Santana Group should take precautions to defend against this kind of attack, but how the major financial group could buy this extraordinary method to empower its own mech forces! "Everything can be bought as long as the price is right." If the Santana Xenoarchaeology Division Fleet was able to master this method, then few other pioneering fleets of the same size would be able to compete anymore! Similar thoughts also swirled in the minds of the other ace pilots. They did not see the Larkinsons and the Glory Seekers resorting to an inexplicable ritual to wield magical power. They instead saw how the mech pilots in questions employed a systematic method to evoke or boost the strength of a powerful entity. The battle formations of the Penitent Sisters and the Glory Seekers did not interest them all that much. It was a bit more convoluted because it largely depended on borrowing Helena's vast spiritual energies to power the death energy waves. What the ace mechs were truly interested in was the first battle formation to strike the alien warships! The Swordmaidens employed a more down-to-earth method of channeling power where many mech pilots amplified the power of an expert pilot. This was much more to the tastes of the various pioneering groups. After all, none of them wanted to rely on a foreign power to lend them help in their time of need. It was much better to rely on known quantities that were right in their midst! "We need to have a good talk with the Larkinson Clan." Saint Sandro Gemini said to his sister and wife. "Think of how much less we have to fear from rivals who would love nothing more than to eliminate our way of life." Saint Kaia Gemini pressed her lips. "Let us address our immediate priorities first. There are still too many enemy warships left in the fray." The battle did not instantly turn into a victory just because the Golden Skull Alliance pulled off a big move. It only affected a sixth of the battlefield at best. The five other pioneering fleets still had to work their way through their own share of alien warships! What was worse was that the mech pilots who had all contributed to the battle formation attacks had lost a large amount of mental energy. They had become so exhausted that it was not safe or prudent for them to participate any further. They all received orders to turn their mechs around and return to their motherships so that they could enjoy a well-deserved rest. In the meantime, the Larkinson Clan and the Glory Seekers had already tapped their reserve pools and mustered up enough replacement mech pilots to put the intact machines to good use again. It still took a lot of time for the rotation to take place. Until then, the Golden Skull Alliance had to make do with several thousands less mechs on the battlefield than usual. Fortunately, their alien opponents were no longer fighting as exuberantly than before. They had no way of knowing whether the humans could repeat this trick. The fear of the unknown along with the trauma of witnessing so many of their alien comrades dying without any resistance caused the survivors to fight up to half as effectively as before! Although the more seasoned and determined leaders of the 1854210 pirate fleet tried their best to rally their troops, the speed in which the alien pirates recovered heavily depended on their racial traits as well as their training and other factors. Since many of the aliens fighting against the Golden Skull Alliance were outlaws and deviants by nature, their ability to recover and strengthen their resolve was not that great! However, they discovered something crucial about the warships that had all lost their crews. Most of them were still running at reduced capacity. A few of the more automated ones were still firing their guns at any enemies that their systems could identify. It turned out that the death energy attacks only killed off the crews, but left everything else intact! Soon enough, the 1854210 pirate fleet along with the other pirate outfits quickly organized crew transfers where their spare officers and spacers quickly relocated to the 'emptied' warships so that they could quickly man the most essential stations again! The Larkinsons did not fail to miss what was happening. "Stop them from transferring their personnel! Once the crew-less warships are crewed again, they will become just as threatening as before!" The Golden Skull Alliance quickly moved additional melee mechs forth to interfere with the crew transfers. As long as they destroyed every shuttle that entered into open space, they could keep the 25 partially inert frigates and destroyers from regaining much of their combat power! Lanie Larkinson was among the many Avatars of Myth that received this new assignment. Her Lucid Rage was a strong combatant against other melee mechs, but the aliens that she fought against didn't play by the same rules! Just like many other melee mech pilots, she had long grown frustrated at chasing after the fast and elusive starfighters. "These aliens are no fun." The young mech pilot muttered. It was hardly a challenge for her Lucid Rage to intercept the alien shuttles and crush them and their vulnerable passengers into much by striking them with a giant tonfa. Whenever there weren't any shuttles in her zone, the mech champion directed her Lucid Rage to a nearby alien warship so that it could hit the segmented energy shields as if it was a drummer. Though Lanie did feel a greater purpose in fighting against the alien races that were fundamentally opposed to the advancement of the human race, she truly didn't enjoy what she was doing at the moment. Aside from having to dodge the occasional warship gun battery strikes, there was no significant challenge to fighting against her current opponents. At least she was able to exercise her combat skills and learn from her mistakes when she fought against the mechs of the Sundered Phalanx. A part of her felt guilty for preferring to fight against other human forces. She knew she should take more satisfaction in participating in the noble war against the indigenous alien races that were giving the pioneers a hard time, but all she felt was frustration. "Maybe I should start piloting a ranged mech instead." She contemplated. She could foresee that the Larkinson Clan would be fighting against plenty of alien forces in the future. If she started to pilot a ranged mech, then she would be able to stay useful regardless whether the Larkinson Clan was fighting against humans or aliens. "It would be a waste for me to give up on polishing my melee skills after investing so much into them. Besides, I can make much more use out of them if I manage to break through." Examples such as Venerable Dise and Saint Jeremiah Gauge showed that even pure melee mech specialists gained a lot of versatility once they became strong enough! Though Lanie dreamed of reaching their level of strength one day, she did not think she would be able to get there soon enough if she fought more battles like this. Were the aliens truly unable to give her a serious challenge? "Watch out! Hundreds of elite starfighters have returned to reinforce their fleet. Some of them are better than others, so be careful not to underestimate them. Good luck!" Lanie observed as several formations of larger and more powerful starfighters closed in. Their pilots had all been tasked with stopping the humans from destroying the shuttles in transit. Distant attack from the Eye of Ylvaine and other friendly mech units struck many of the elite starfighters, only for most of the alien craft to come out unscathed. Every elite starfighter enjoyed the protection of a transphasic shield generator that was remarkably effective at blocking attacks from conventional weapons! Not even the firepower of a Transcendent Punisher Mark II was enough to deplete the shields of such a powerful craft! Lanie narrowed her eyes as she recognized that she and her fellow compatriots were about to face the best of what the aliens had brought. Soon enough, the elite starfighters came close enough to strafe dozens of mechs with accurate shots! Several concentrations of laser beams and kinetic projectiles hammered at the frames of the human mechs in quick succession! Though there were Knight Warriors and other defensive mechs that attempted to block the attacks, their measures were only partially effective as many elite starfighters could still bring their weapons to bear against lighter and more vulnerable mechs! "Ah!" Many mech pilots that could not find any shelter had no choice but to eject. Lanie grimaced as she saw so many living mechs die while their pilots hoped that their cockpits would not get shot down by a starfighter or a warship gun battery! "Block their path!" The Avatars weren't standing still, though. They had already spread out their mechs in an attempt to catch or corner the elite starfighters, but the alien craft had already pulled upwards and turned away before they could get any closer! "Argh! We can't catch up to these buggers!" "Then don't! Return to your current duties and do your best to prevent the aliens from recrewing their emptied warships." "What about the elite starfighters? We won't last if they keep launching repeated attack runs at our mechs." "The clan already has that covered. Don't worry. Those elite starfighters won't be able to remain cocky for much longer." Those words quickly came true before the elite starfighters turned around to strafe the Avatar mechs yet again. Before they could eliminate another batch of mechs, several squads of mechs moved to intercept the starfighters from several directions! Though the elite alien pilots quickly aborted their attack run and attempted to escape the closing mechs, they found to their horror that their powerful craft no longer possessed a speed advantage anymore. It turned out that the light mechs of the Flagrant Vandals were on their tail! "Hahaha! Not so fast anymore, right? Not all of our mechs are slowpokes!"