Chapter 5668 The Final Demonstration 5668 The Final Demonstration - PUBLISHED TOO EARLY BY MISTAKE - TREAT THIS AS AN EARLY CHAPTER FOR TOMORROW The so-called Guided Aim Technology was one of the earliest 'innovations' introduced by Professor Ves Larkinson. These days, only the immigrants of the Komodo Star Sector and the determined enemies of the Larkinson Clan were aware of this powerful capability. The Larkinsons themselves did not really go out of their way to advertise the unnaturally high hit rates of their Transcendent Punishers. There was no reason for them to give their enemies greater convenience and give them the opportunity to figure out countermeasures in advance. The public largely remained in the dark about the existence of this particular capability. It did not help that Ylvaine's guidance had long been reserved as an exclusive benefit to loyal worshipers of the Great Prophet. During the Sand War, many different parties including the Mech Trade Association attempted to reverse engineer the Holy Soldier mech model in order to 'steal' this extraordinary capability. It went without saying that this attempt resulted in nothing but failure, or else a lot more ranged mechs would have possessed similar capabilities by this time. For a long time, the elusive Guided Aim ability remained out of reach to the mech community. The Larkinsons fiercely hoarded it for themselves. The release of the Ultimatum broke the old status quo. For the first time in his career, Professor Ves Larkinson willingly gave up on the exclusivity of his proprietary technologies and made it possible for ordinary mech pilots to employ this ability! The Ultimatum therefore gained another level of significance. Its notable combination of features produced such an effective package that it was difficult for other people to imagine whether other mech models that occupied the same space even had a chance of competing anymore. Unless there were a lot of complications related to Guided Aim Technology that people did not know about, many mech designers who were working on their own heavy artillery mech projects started to question whether their work still had any meaning. Not even the hyper heavy artillery mechs that were currently in development had much of a chance of beating this paradigm-breaking mech model! As the potential customer base for this highly attractive mech model started to get to grips with the magical E-technologies of the Ultimatum, Micky Tarukan finally addressed the final surprise. "The Ultimatum is more than an artillery version of a marksman mech. It is an engine of destruction whose firepower has reached a new apex. Isthmus Manufacturing is willing to make this unequaled mech model available to as many customers as possible because it is more than a strong mech. It is a product that can temper the rise of auxiliary warships because it can do the job of the latter much more efficiently! This is the single most important reason why not just Isthmus Manufacturing, but every human in the Red Ocean must support the proliferation of this mech!" That was a big claim! Micky Tarukan certainly had guts, because his call would certainly be disputed by the Terrans. There was no way the archrivals of the Rubarthans would ever let the Ultimatum gain dominance. Even if it was originally designed by a prominent mech designer they sought to have closer relations with, since Isthmus Manufacturing took over responsibility for this mech model, it had become tainted as far as the Terrans were concerned. Though the capabilities demonstrated by the Ultimatum so far managed to lend a lot of credence to its dominance in its market category, it had not yet attained a level of performance that could enable it to dominate an entire era. "Let us hold another demonstration, shall we? There is one more dimension to the Ultimatum UDS-550 that we have yet to fully showcase. Since this aspect is not related to target prediction and long-ranged accuracy, we will display the full might of our new heavy artillery mech model at a closer distance." The wide arena-like exhibition center lit up to expose numerous stationary targets on the far side. What was special about these targets was that they presented different combinations of energy and armor-based defenses. The simplest targets were a thick sheet of warship-grade hull plating and an active transphasic shield. The more complex ones combined both in order to simulate the defenses of different alien warships. None of them broke easily. A typical heavy artillery mech of the previous generation definitely needed to fire a few salvos with all of their armaments in order to break them open. The difficulty was particularly great when they had to overcome transphasic defenses. Each of the 9 Ultimatums began to load their gauss rounds and charge up their main cannons. "The Onyx Cannon mounted onto the Ultimatum UDS-550 is designed to work with both tranphasic and non-transphasic hyper gauss rounds. There are clear differences in penetration power between both types of projectiles, but the latter is much more affordable by most consumers, so 8 of our Ultimatums are loaded with them. Only the final Ultimatum is loaded with a more precious transphasic gauss round." He wanted to save the best for last. As the heavy artillery mechs lowered their Onyx Cannons until they aimed at the targets on the other side of the main hall, the machine on the far left prepared to open fire first. Just before the Ultimatum was about to strike the thick sample of warship armor plating, the closest people vaguely experienced a different sensation from before. This time, the Ultimatum no longer felt as sacred as holy as before. Instead, it started to gain a more ominous and threatening air. Before the guests could process this sensation any further, the mech finally opened fire! BOOOOOM! CRUNCH! As the weakest defensive target, the plate did not stand a chance. It was ultimately too thin and fragile to resist the full force of the non-transphasic round launched by the Onyx Cannon! The manner in which its defenses failed looked spectacular. The solid piece of metal got struck with so much force that many pieces had shattered outright and launched them in many different directions! It had actually been a better choice to employ a non-transphasic gauss round in this instance. This meant that a much higher proportion of the projectile's insanely high kinetic energy got transferred to the blocky target. The results spoke for themselves. The physical impact was so great that the poor block of metal did not stand a chance. BOOOOM! The second Ultimatum struck a relatively strong transphasic energy shield that was typically utilized by smaller alien warships. This time, the energy shield impressively managed to resist the attack, just as it was meant to. The phasewater used to enhance the performance of this barrier had made a huge difference in keeping it alive. No one begrudged the Ultimatum for failing to punch through this defense. Instead, a lot of people who were familiar with alien tech reacted with surprise when they saw how a single mech managed to destabilize the transphasic energy shield to this extent. BOOOM! It took another attack by the same Ultimatum to finally breach this defensive barrier. BOOOM! BOOOM! BOOOM! The next Ultimatums showcased their firepower on numerous occasions as their Onyx Cannons struck different targets and wore down their defenses. These were all defenses that could typically be found on alien warships, but lone Ultimatums managed to break them down at an astonishing pace, especially when each of them had been allocated to separate targets. "This... this is impossible!" "How can these Onyx Cannons strike with so much force? I have studied the schematic just earlier! A super-heavy gauss cannon developed by Master Horst shouldn't be able to breach the transphasic energy shields and hull plating of alien vessels so quickly." "This mech truly leaves no room for other heavy artillery mechs on the mech market. It is not enough for it to actually make use of prescience to attain greater accuracy. It also has to power up its attacks so that it can break alien warships without needing to rely on the space suppressors of melee mechs." The more people observed the performance of these Ultimatums, the more they became frightened by its firepower. The Onyx Cannon was too powerful! Every estimate and calculation showed that it was punching significantly above its weight class! It was not until eight of the targets got pummeled into pieces that Micky Tarukan broke the silence. "As you can see, the Onyx Cannon does not rely on phasewater technology in order to reach a higher level of damage output. Everyone can rest assured that the Ultimatum UDS-550 will remain highly effective in the hands of any mech force that does not have any phasewater at their disposal." The performance of the Ultimatum so far exceeded everyone's expectations, yet they still felt that the current demonstration had not yet shown the complete picture. It was not until the final Ultimatum prepared its main cannon for firing that the atmosphere in the exhibition center gradually started to grow heavier. The final heavy artillery mech deliberately dragged out the charging process just so that the guests could experience the magnified glow of the Ultimatum a bit longer. As the final Ultimatum actually started to glow, the CEO of Isthmus Manufacturing suddenly made an incomprehensible action. He turned around, lowered himself to his knees and actually started to prostate before the heavy artillery mech! "Your Divinity, I beseech you to display a measure of your great might upon our ignorant eyes! Please allow us to witness your grace and reveal the blessing that you have bestowed on this mech model!" Such behavior was exaggerated even for ardent Rubarthans. Most of them admired their god pilots a lot, but not all of them treated them as literal gods. At the very least, this was not fitting behavior for the CEO of a big mech manufacturer! However, no one cared about his antics anymore because a more dramatic action occurred. The Onyx Cannon of the final Ultimatum glowed so brightly in orange that it had actually spawned an energy manifestation of a very familiar looking cat! Even though the cat only looked and felt a fraction as great as the real deal, that unforgettable aura was unmistakable. "MIIIIIIEEEEEW!" When the cat let loose her iconic cry, no one dared to think she was an impostor anymore! There was only one reason why the famous cat showed up at this time and place. "The Destroyer of Worlds... has actually blessed this mech!" "It is more than that... if the CEO's opening statement is to be believed... then all other Ultimatums have established a connection with the Destroyer of Worlds." "I knew that the mysterious relationship between Professor Larkinson and our god pilot had become close! It must be because the Destroyer of Worlds became impressed by the potential of the younger mech designer and enlisted his aid to bestow the Ultimatum to the Rubarthan Pact. The story all makes sense now that we have obtained the crucial clue!" Before the crowd could speak any further, the energy manifestation of Emma dove back into the Onyx Cannon and bonded with the transphasic hyper round. Even though the projectile wasn't visible, many people instinctively felt that it had come close to bursting apart and annihilating everything in the vicinity! BOOOOOOOOM! They immediately felt relief when the Ultimatum successfully launched its powerful round. Practically an instant later, the transphasic hyper round that was directly blessed by Emma punched through a transphasic energy shield as if it had passed through a brush and proceeded to penetrate multiple layers of thick armor plating! CRACK-CRUNCH-CRUNCH-CRUNCH!" The force and power of the attack was so strong that the entire multi-layered construction actually slid backwards from the sheer magnitude of force that it had just endured! Many pieces of broken metal fragments sprayed from the half-broken target. As the view became clearer, people could see that the much thicker and tougher warship-grade hull plating ultimately failed to prevent the transphasic round from penetrating all the way through and deal catastrophic damage to the simulated compartment in the rear. A single Ultimatum was responsible for inflicting real damage on a potential warship. It did not do so alone, but also received the indispensable assistance of an actual god pilot! For a moment, utter silence reigned in the exhibition hall and many people's homes as they struggled to process what had happened. "..." *** THIS CHAPTER HAS BEEN MISTAKINGLY PUBLISHED A DAY IN ADVANCE. TOMORROW ON 9 FEBRUARY 2024 I WILL ONLY PUBLISH 2 CHAPTERS IN ORDER TO MAINTAIN CONSISTENCY IN MY SCHEDULE.