Chapter 6543 The Elegant Swordsman Due to the Heavensword's 'consideration, all three machines had entered into a somewhat stable rhythm. Each mech was being suppressed by the high mobility of the mech-scaled energy projections. The heavenly energies that make up their bodies' and in a few cases their 'swords' were not as weak and fragile as ordinary E energy. Despite the complete absence of willpower and true resonance, the energy constructs more than proved their mettle against the powerful ace mech and expert mechs! It was rather amazing for observers to realize that a single sword, which was originally small enough to fit in the hands of a human, was able to suppress several champions of red humanity. The Heavensword's solo performance already vindicated the people who claimed that this mythical weapon was more than a match against an expert mech or an ace mech! No one dared to voice any theories where the Heavensword was able to hold its own against a god mech. No one entertained the notion that the most powerful individual combatants of the human race would find themselves inferior to an ownerless sword, even if it was a remarkably powerful one. The mere thought that a god mech would get defeated by a single relic was... too frightening to comprehend! Ketis resolutely set aside all thoughts about whether that was possible. There was no point in resisting if the Heavensword possessed this capacity. For now, the power level of the relic weapon was still reasonable enough to handle by the mechs that fought on her behalf. "Saint Commander Casella." Ketis transmitted to the approaching Minerva. "Please suspend your approach and maintain your distance. The Heavensword is... manageable for now. If you rashly interrupt the individual duels, then I am afraid you will provoke the weapon into taking unpredictable actions." "Acknowledged, Swordmaster Ketis." The ace command mech along with the accompanying Battle Crier mech company had already slowed down earlier. Now, the troop of mechs had arrested their forward momentum entirely, making sure to keep a healthy distance from the unfolding bouts. The Saint Commander was clearly able to read the evolving circumstances as well. Her outsider's perspective clearly allowed her to see that the Heavensword was testing the high-ranking mechs as opposed to battering them down as if they were genuine enemies. Of course, the Heavensword was anything but gentle with its opposition, given that its strikes began to chip away at the armor of the beleaguered machines! This was why Casella Ingvar still remained poised and ready to intervene with her troop. Every mech was precious. High-ranking mechs and living ones were even more priceless! Not only did they constitute the core power of the Larkinson Clan, but they also served a vital role in defending the Viola Magnifica System against the native aliens. Having one or several of these powerful mechs fall during the Red Tide Offensive might cause a cascade of failures that would be devastating for red humanity! For this reason, if it looked as if one of the high-ranking mechs was about to succumb, Saint Commander Casella had already decided to intervene by force no matter the consequences. That was not necessary for the time being. The mechs were regularly getting cut by the heavenly energy, but their armor systems were not for show. Ketis could clearly observe that the swordsmanship demonstrated by every wielder was substantially different. The projected sword wielders only employed the most basic and foundational techniques of their respective sword styles, but that was already enough to give her a lot of clues. She was able to confirm that each of them wielded the Heavensword with great familiarity and with their own distinctive styles. The Elegant Swordsman as she decided to call the first energy projection wielded the Heavensword as if it was made to be held in his hand. His elegant countenance and swift but beautiful moves perfectly matched the Heavensword's shape and aesthetics. As a swordmaster, Ketis was able to observe that the Elegant Swordsman danced across space similar to how Venerable Brutus Wodin controlled his own expert mech in the thick of combat. This not only made the Elegant Swordsman look as if it took no effort for him to evade the flail attacks of the Amphis Extremis, but also allowed him to build up momentum and direction for his next attacks. The Amphis Extremis possessed an excellent advantage when it remained on the defensive. Its tower shield was large, thick and provided enough cover to casily block attacks coming in from many different angles. Yet the Elegant Swordsman seemed to treat the presence of the large slab of alloys as an interesting challenge. The expression of the energy projection remained flat, but his flowing movements betrayed an elevated sense of interest and inquisitiveness. The sword attacks employed by the Elegant Swordsman mostly consisted of slashes that flowed according to the momentum and rotation of his projected body. Despite the potential power that he could put into these moves, the simulated wielder of the Heavensword remained cautious and restrained by not committing to his attacks. While this heavily limited the damage that the potent Heavensword could inflict on the Amphis Extremis, it also made it very difficult for Saint Linda Cross to punish her adversary for getting close! The Amphis Extremis was losing. While the ace mech was quite fast for its archetype, it was never designed to keep up with highly maneuverable humanoid opponents. This was why it carried a tower shield. Yet when the rotation speed of the Amphis Extremis was unable to keep up with the circling of the Elegant Swordsman, the defensive equipment was only able to prevent the Elegant Swordsman from launching easy attacks at forward angles. Saint Linda Cross was stuck in a dilemma. Her mech was completely optimized to fight against native alien forces. The enemy phase lords and phase whales that posed the greatest threat were all large but not too maneuverable in combat. The design of the Amphis Extremis therefore paid little attention to the need to attack highly maneuverable targets. The ace offensive knight might be able to increase its mobility by tossing aside the tower shield, but that would leave it a lot more open to frontal attacks. "You cannot afford to fall into the rhythm of your opponent." Ketis judged. Fortunately, Saint Linda Cross was an experienced veteran that fought against plenty of mechs. She had not forgotten how to deal with fast-moving opponents such as light skirmishers. Against other opponents, the Amphis Extremis would have channeled more power into its Saint Kingdom and seek to slow down its adversary through willpower suppression. That did not work at all against the sword-wielding energy projection. Saint Linda therefore began to make use of more sweeping attacks. The Amphis Extremis did not have any way of turning faster, but it could swing its flail in circles at extended ranges! The rather slender but incredibly tough chain attached to the skull-shaped ball began to lengthen. The Amphis Extremis also began to swing the Wrecker Skull in different motions above its head or in other stances. The Elegant Swordsman immediately noticed the change and began to back off more frequently in order to avoid getting caught. After a few moments of evasion, the energy projection quickly figured out how to respond to this change. The simulated holder of the Heavensword actually began to predict the arm swings and weapon trajectories of the Amphis Extremis and struck whenever it spotted an opening! The timing had to be precise. The Elegant Swordsman also had to maneuver his way through the flail attacks along the right trajectory in order to land an attack without suffering retaliation. The Amphis Extremis was still getting damaged, although this time its suffering had decreased. Even so, the ace offensive space knight had yet to land a single solid blow against its adversary. Just as it seemed as if the Elegant Swordsman would be able to dance around the Amphis Extremis with impunity, Saint Linda Cross employed a surprising trick! The Amphis Extremis actually began to randomize the rhythm and timing of her sweeping flail attacks by changing the length of the chain! When the chain became shorter, the Amphis Extremis was able to make the heavy skull-shaped ball complete an arc faster at the cost of reducing its range. The opposite happened if the chain lengthened all of a sudden. Venerable Linda also employed another trick to make her ace mech's attacks less predictable. She utilized her true resonance to dynamically increase or decrease the mass of her weapon without the usual precautions. By making the flail heavier, it took more energy to build up momentum, thereby causing it to swing around a little slower than normal. By making it lighter, Saint Linda Cross found it much easier for her ace mech to complete an arc! Merely being fast was not enough as the Elegant Swordsman was always faster and more maneuverable. What truly made a difference was that the frequent changes in the reach and mass of the flail made it exponentially more difficult for the Elegant Swordsman to predict the ace space knight's attacks! "So this is your true strength. It is not your flowing movements that allow you to evade my attacks, but your ability to predict my moves in advance." Now that Linda figured out why she fell at a disadvantage against this adversary, she doubled down on her new tactics and continued to make herself as difficult to predict as possible! The mind and spirit of an ace pilot was so strong that Linda was able to make semi-conscious decisions on which parameters she wanted to change. She refused to believe the Heavensword was powerful enough to discern her intentions in so little time! The Elegant Swordsman had to endure more pressure, but he still flowed around the Amphis Extremis as if he was swimming in the water. Yet no matter how amazingly the Elegant Swordsman managed to block most of the unpredictable blows, its luck was finite. Saint Linda Cross finally became jubilant as she not only managed to fool the Heavensword, but also managed to land a solid hit against the Elegant Swordsman! If the energy projection was a lesser phase lord, then the direct hit would have crushed numerous bones and obliterated the outer layers of the flesh! Yet just as the resonance-empowered ball that suddenly gained the momentum of a crashing light mech was about to collide against the Elegant Swordsman, an illusionary calm and peaceful lake came into being! It looked incredibly peaceful and graceful as its surface mirrored a nightscape filled with stars and a mysterious moon. Softly glowing lotuses floated across the surface of the lake. Each of the succulent looking flower petals gazed at the moon and appeared to absorb its light and energies. This lake illusion was anything but a phantom. The pond, which was being illuminated by the light of a moon, not only absorbed the kinetic energy transferred upon impact like a champ, but also prevented the ball from striking the body of the current energy projection! "How?!" "Whatever energy defenses the Elegant Swordsman relies upon is behaving similarly to a non-Newtonian fluid!" Ketis quickly explained over the comm. "It hardens the most when struck with strong and fast blunt impacts! If this strange energy defense truly inherited the properties of a non-Newtonian fluid, then the best way to overcome it is by using a sword or sharp edge to cut straight through the barrier!" "My ace mech is not equipped with a sword!" "Then the only other way to overcome this barrier is by repeatedly bashing it with your Wrecker Skull until it has exhausted the Heavensword's energy reserves." That was clearly not the most optimal solution in this case, but it was the only one that Saint Linda could employ under the circumstances. At least she had made enough progress to go on the offensive. Now that Saint Linda became increasingly more accustomed to making her attacks more unpredictable by randomly varying the length of the chain and the mass of the ball, the Elegant Swordsman was no longer able to poke the Amphis Extremis with impunity!