Chapter 5880 Unprecedented Teamwork 5880 Unprecedented Teamwork Ves was doing a lot of unprecedented stuff as of late, many of which entailed a lot of risks. This was yet another harebrained scheme that he had cooked up in order to solve his latest problem. As the energy vortex surrounding his true body began to infuse a lot of fire energy into his true body, he quickly began to feel overbearingly hot! He felt as if he was cooking himself! His Spirituality was not able to cope with the increasing concentration of fire energy as well as his physical body. As a phase lord, his organic tissue had already exceeded the limitations of human tolerances. Phase lords were all capable of navigating in space to an extent. This meant that they were naturally resistant to extreme environmental factors. Even a lesser phase lord like himself was able to fly a bit close to a star and still not worry too much about radiation poisoning. It frustrated Ves that the tolerance of his own Spirituality was lower than that of his true body, but he had little choice but to make do with his present circumstances. At the very least, Ves concluded that his latest idea had merit. "Give me as much control over your body as possible. I have recently acquired a wealth of fighting techniques that should prove useful. Make sure to summon mon your flute as well. I can strike harder with a weapon." "I can give you control over my body, but it is not wise to employ the Oceancaller. The artifact is based on the water element. It does not play well with the fire element." "Then proceed with my first suggestion." It was already too late for questions and doubts. Ves put his full trust in his own creation. The sensation of getting encroached upon by a foreign spirit, even one he created just a short time ago, was deeply discomfiting. However, the potential synergies were simply too great for Ves to dismiss. It just took a bit of trial and error to get everything set up correctly. Ves constantly had to hold himself back from lashing out and repelling the intruder. Fortunately, Blinky was able to play the role of a middleman of sorts. He provided Caramond with a suitable vessel while also maintaining a strong connection to Ves. This formed the basis of an unprecedented three-way relationship where everyone pooled their strengths together for the sole purpose of turning Ves into the strongest possible combatant! Although the concentration of fire energy still imposed a heavy burden onto Ves, he clearly sensed he had become a lot more powerful! Perhaps… he was able to beat up ace mechs in this special state! Of course, Ves did not let this go through his head. This was only a temporary state that rapidly wore down his Spirituality and relied heavy on the Spark Reactor to fuel this empowered state. He would miss this incredible rush of power if he was able to come away from this event. That only meant that he had to make the most of this unique opportunity. "Focus. We must align ourselves if we are to defeat this terrible alien foe." "You are right. Blinky and I will follow your lead. We will focus on energy manipulation while you take charge of my body." "Mrow!" There was no need for anyone to say anything. Their cooperation had already reached a state where they roughly understood each other's intentions. As illusionary flames radiated out of Ves' gigantic form, the clone of the Subjugation King had been remarkably patient about granting his valued slave the time to figure out a more effective combat approach. "#$$#&." "YOU ARE FINALLY MAKING PROPER USE OF YOUR ADVANTAGES. I EXPECT YOU TO FIGHT BETTER THAN A LOWLY WORM THIS TIME." Ves raised a defiant fist towards the clone of the Subjugation King! "I have had enough with your constant belittlement! Neither we nor our race are fated to become your slaves!" Ves and Blinky took action first. Having received lots of practice when he facilitated the utilization of fire energy among the Dread Marines, Blinky knew exactly how to shape fire energy into thrust power. A giant flame plume appeared behind Ves' back, causing his true body to propel forward at a much greater acceleration rate than what he was able to manage in the past! In addition to that, Blinky began to channel fire energies to Ves' arms and legs, causing their flame coronas to increase in size and intensity. A lot of fire energy was going to waste, but it did not matter as the trio had monopolized much of the output of the Spark Reactor that was spilling out of the hull! It became incredibly challenging for Blinky to keep all of the fire energy under control, but it shouldn't be a problem for him to keep this up for a short amount of time. Ves did not remain idle during his time. He chose to exercise the spatial abilities of his true body as that was an integral part to how phase lords fought. He stimulated his Kelsis organ to form a spatial barrier that should soften any incoming blows. He also stimulated his Maracos organ in a way that he had never done in the past. He tried to warp the surrounding space and add transphasic properties to his limbs. He understood phasewater technology well enough to understand how it was done with transphasic alloys. Trying to imitate this special condition in his own flesh was an inspired idea, yet it seemed viable enough for him to make the attempt. One of the observations he made over the course of the 5th round was that the aliens had no experience with phasewater and transphasic technology. Their attacks failed to inflict as much damage as they should due to the Dominion of Man's luxurious use of phasewater in all of her construction. Though the Subjugation King clearly made a few adaptations to counter phasewater technology, he clearly hadn't refined his approach at this point. This gave Ves a window of opportunity where he would be able to make good use of the phasewater flowing through his veins! As Ves and Blinky continued to do what they did best and provide support, Caramond had consciously taken the lead. From the perspective of the Subjugation King, the ancestral spirit was absurdly young. The alien tyrant had grown incredibly curious how well Caramond would be able to fight in his current state. Caramond chose to lead by executing a kick with two flaming feet! "We shall break your energy shell!" There was so much momentum behind this strike that the energy barrier finally got struck by a heavy impact! The simultaneous explosion of fire and tribulation energies blended together and blasted both sides apart! As the body of Ves quickly stabilized in space, the trio were able to perceive that their strike had successfully weakened the energy barrier, if only to a minor extent. "It's working!" Ves exulted. "We need to keep up the pressure. We can't give this bastard any reprieve. It is vital for us to channel as much concentrated fire energies at this barrier as possible. No offense, but our physical attacks are doing less damage than than the attacks launched by the Dreadfire Legion." "Understood." Instead of going for any big moves, Caramond directed Ves' body to close in and unleash a flurry of punches and kicks at the immobile energy barrier. The way Ves moved and attacked had changed a lot. His actions became a lot faster and more efficient. He also tried to vary his moves to make himself less predictable. The difference between his old self and his 'new' self was like the difference between night and day! This was because Caramond directly borrowed the fundamental unarmed combat skills of the Dreadfire Legion! Since the ancestral spirit had forged a strong Bloodfire Pact with so many elite soldiers of the Red Fleet, there was no question that their martial arts represented the best of what their organization had to offer! Even though there was nothing extraordinary about their unarmed combat techniques, just the knowledge and the skill of being able to land a proper punch, chain multiple attacks together and maneuver properly in the field dramatically increased Ves' effective combat power! It was a pity that Ves was too focused on manipulating his true body's phasewater organs to properly focus and memorize all of the sick moves that Caramond pulled off while he was in control. That was not to say that Caramond delivered the best performance. Theory and borrowed skills could only bring him so far. His nature as an entity that was transitioning into a True God granted him a huge amount of processing ability, but honing a completely different body into a combat machine took a lot of practice and hard work. Fortunately, Caramond was a fast learner. His domain centered around the superiority of the human race. Even if he was not proficient in a certain area, he pushed himself towards mastering it as quickly as possible, because this was how humanity managed to rise up to become a dominant power in the Milky Way! Blow after blow struck the energy barrier. Each time one of Ves' limbs struck the clone's first layer of defense, it triggered a countershock. This normally should have debilitated Ves' true body, but Blinky made sure to channel a spike of fire energy just before contact! It took a few tries to dial in the right energy levels, but Blinky had managed to find a sweet spot where a punch or a kick produced just enough of an explosion of fire energies to repel some of the painful tribulation energies seeking to shock Ves' body. The countermeasure was not able to block the countershock entirely, but whatever managed to pass through only inflicted a moderate amount of pain. "We are growing stronger. I can feel it." Ves remarked. "We are also making progress at wearing down this energy banner." The continuous flow of fire energy was making everything hurt, yet the prospect of victory granted Ves enough hope to push him forward! His true body continued to turn into a more formidable combatant. The modest but continuous growth induced by tribulation lighting paired with Caramond's growing skill and comprehension on how to pilot Ves' true body were producing increasingly remarkable results! However, the clone of the Subjugation King was not willing to stand still and allow Ves to launch his attacks with impunity. The tribulation manifestation gathered a large amount of lighting energy in his limbs and suddenly thrust them in Ves' direction! Fortunately, the trio was able to sense this telegraphed attack well in advance. Blinky generated a fire energy jet while Ves squeezed the Maracos organ just in time to yank his true body away! "Ahhh! That hurts so much!" The lightning blast unleashed by the clone was too big for Ves to evade entirely! His spatial barrier broke in an instant. The burst of fire energy generated by Blinky got pushed away entirely. Ultimately, a large portion of his side suffered heavy burns that ate into the phasewater-reinforced flesh! Much of it was starting to heal, but it was clear that it would not return in peak condition for quite some time. Ves was thankful that he managed to accomplish at least this much. When he was able to observe what the strike had done, he almost shuddered. The lightning blast had dug another large trench into the hull of the vessel! Numerous secondary gun batteries had become fried to the point where they turned into husks of their former selves. He could not imagine how his body would look if it took the attack head-on! The specter of death hovered really close to him during this critical interval! "Keep fighting! The sooner we tear apart this energy barrier, the sooner we can stop him from pulling off any big moves!" "I agree! This alien should not be allowed to desecrate the Dominion of Man any further!" "We should position our body higher from the hull surface. If this bastard launches another powerful lightning strike, it should at least get lost in vacuum if it happens to miss."