Chapter 6685 Staking Their Lives The decisive battle was about to start. The native aliens had completely swept the entire outer system and large parts of the inner system of Viola Magnifica. Now, they descended upon the fortress planet with confidence that the last bastion of resistance in the star system would fall into their hands. The only question now was how much of a price they needed to pay to secure a victory. The alien warships advanced cautiously. They had taken the measure of their opponents during the earlier skirmishes. The human mechs remained as strong as ever, and they definitely kept a few surprises in store. However, the alien armada likely held trump cards of their own. Enough years had passed for the Red Cabal and the major alien races to shake off their complacency and fully acknowledge the threat posed by the extragalactic invaders. The reason why the native aliens still decided to commit to an all-out assault was because they found out that the humans had withdrawn numerous ace pilots from the Middle Zones. Although most phase lords and phase whales did not acknowledge the divinity of high-ranking mech pilots, they most certainly regarded them as threats on the same level as themselves. The aliens were playing for keeps this time. The alert sounded throughout every human base and starship. The soldiers schooled their expressions and methodically began their final preparations. The mech technicians performed last-minute checks on as many mechs as possible in order to verify that they were fully loaded with energy cells and ammunition. The mech pilots all attended their final briefings in order to understand their own assignments and the enemies that they would likely have to fight against. The orbital defense platforms and orbital space fortresses warmed up their cannons and performed checks on their energy shield systems. The few CFA and privately-owned auxiliary warships in the star systems positioned themselves close to the orbital defense ring. They clearly intended to use the space fortresses as cover in the hopes of limiting the damage to their hulls. Other starships such as fleet carriers, combat carriers and the rare support vessel such as the Spirit of Bentheim hovered further to the rear. They were vital enough to remain in the contested star system, but not strong or useful enough to move further forward, These ships were probably the only way out for the defenders who were about to fight the good fight. The vessels were already prepared to receive as many withdrawing soldiers as they could hold. The orbital defenses were doomed, but the personnel who served aboard them could still be saved as long as they evacuated in time. The ships must also be ready to pick up a large number of fleeing mechs and mech pilots. Each of them were valuable combatants that could do a lot of good if they managed to live and fight on another battlefield. Many defenders were already familiar with this routine. They had experienced similar withdrawals when they fought to defend the fortified star systems of the second and third defensive bands. However, it was exactly because many veterans had experienced those withdrawal events that they never dared to let down their guard. This was because an orderly withdrawal could easily turn into a chaotic rout! If the native aliens pushed harder than expected, then the ships in the rear could easily come under threat! For example, there had been times when phase lords forcefully pushed past the human defensive lines and prioritized the destruction of those warships above all other priorities! This often happened in battles where the native aliens were able to deploy more champions than the enemy. Everyone knew that the balance of power between the champions of both sides was decisive in determining the outcome of the upcoming battle. The greater the disparity, the greater the chance that the battle would take a drastic turn for the worse! The high-ranking mech pilots of the Golden Skull Alliance attended one more virtual meeting. 𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺 Saint Commander Casella Ingvar passed on the latest intelligence on the enemy. "Numerous intelligence sources have come to a consensus on what our alien adversaries are relying on to secure their victory." She said. "A sizable detachment of high-tech puelmer heavy cruisers and carriers have arrived. As far as our observers can tell, every puelmer warship is equipped with high-tech weapons and modules that can pose an immense threat to our warships and defenses. They are also fairly mobile and can accelerate faster than a high-quality transphasic mech can keep up if their warp drives are not interdicted." "Do we need to prioritize their destruction, ma'am?" Venerable Brutus Wodin asked with concern. "Not specifically." Casella shook her head. "We can only entrust our mechs, our warships and our orbital defenses to handle this threat. Our sole responsibility is to counter the enemy phase lords. At this moment, our intelligence analysts are 85 percent confident that we will be confronted by 6 phase lords. What is distressing to us is that 2 of them are greater phase lords and 4 of them are lesser phase lords. The only consolation is that most of them have only been recently transferred to the front. They lack experience in fighting against us and can be taken by surprise." Projections of long-ranged image captures appeared above the briefing table. They depicted a variety of different phase lords. They all happened to share one concerning trait. "They are much better armored than before." Joshua said with a frown. "Those raiments looked brand-new and a lot more advanced than what the phase lords have been using in the past." "Good observation." Casella nodded towards him. "That is because the aliens have begun to ship newer generations of phase lord raiments to the front. These are considerably more powerful and difficult to damage due to one underlying reason. They are not entirely products of the aliens themselves. The new generation raiments were instead developed by joint teams of cosmopolitan mech designers and alien engineers." "What?!" "No wonder those raiments look familiar! It is like looking at a collection of juggernauts." "Those damn traitors! When do they think they have done enough to skew the war against our favor? Do they really want us all to die?!" Casella allowed the champions of the expeditionary fleet to vent their frustrations for a moment. "Alright. That is enough. We cannot do anything to stop the Cosmopolitan Movement from offering mech designer services to the aliens. All we can do is prepare ourselves to fight against phase lords that may be able to leverage the power of mechs in various ways. We should expect them to fight with significant computer assistance for example. They will also enjoy more advanced energy and material defenses, which makes it even harder to inflict serious damage to their massive bodies. Their relatively small warship-grade weapon modules will also hit harder. Worst of all, the raiments may also be mounted with alien-adapted space suppressors." That last bit of news did not make any of the champions happy. The slavish cosmopolitans were willing to sell out every human technological secret on the cheap. It was only a matter of time before the aliens stole and adapted human space suppression modules for themselves. "This has massive implications." Saint Dise spoke up for the first time during this briefing. "If the phase lords can generate fairly powerful space suppression fields, then our mechs will lose at least a part of their transphasic enhancements. The effect on expert mechs within range of the alien space suppressors will be serious, though I do not think it will limit mechs piloted by ace mechs due to stronger willpower." Casella nodded. "I believe this to be the case as well. The immediate consequence is that it is not wise for our transphasic melee expert mechs to move into close range of the enemy phase lords as much of their performance will diminish. A single serious attack may overcome the weakened defenses of the precious expert mechs and cause them to be eliminated in advance." "Then what are we supposed to do?" Venerable Vincent Ricklin asked in a peevish tone. "If you are asking me to wield a rifle and take potshots at incoming phase lords from a distance, then forget about it. I would much rather charge against a phase lord and punch his spatial barrier to pieces! If I am lucky, I may even break through, allowing me to put up a much better fight against the enemy" "Or you may just crash against an unbreakable wall and kill yourself in the process." Jannzi warned. "Venerable Jannzi's words should be taken seriously." Saint Commander Casella told everyone. "I will not issue orders to you, but I will present two proposals that you can choose from. First, maintain your distance and shoot at the phase lords with your resonance empowered weapons. I am not forcing you to do this, but if you are a low-ranking expert pilot who has only broken through a handful of years ago at best, I highly recommend you do not attempt to challenge phase lords who are more comparable to ace pilots in strength." The old veterans who had managed to become high-tier expert pilots did not think much of Casella's words. Her true target audience was the new breakthroughs that emerged in the past year or so. The Larkinson Clan had gained a bunch of low-tier expert pilots, and so did the other members of the Golden Skull Alliance. None of them had been able to become famous or renowned enough for everyone to remember their names, but that might change if they managed to survive the future. These expert pilots all had their own pride, but they were not stupid enough to miss the huge disparity in strength. Casella's proposal gave these low-tier expert pilots a way to decline the notion of committing suicide by charging directly at the phase lords. Since the Saint Commander told them to swap their swords or spears for rifles and hang back in the rear lines, then it was best for these immature champions to follow this recommendation. This was the only way for them to decline a challenge without making themselves look too weak or cowardly! "Those of you who possess greater confidence in your ability to survive a confrontation against a phase lord are free to take your chances with the enemy," Casella said. "Be mindful of their superior equipment. If you are not already an ace pilot, then limit your sights to the lesser phase lords. I am sure that many of you high-tier expert pilots seek to pursue your breakthroughs in this battle. The addition of one or two ace pilots can ke a massive difference in this battle. Other forces will provide as much support as they can to provide you with cover, but do not expect too much from them as the enemy has brought a large amount of warships and phasefighters to bear against us. You must ultimately rely on yourself if you intend to use the enemy lesser phase lords as your whetstones." The virtual briefing room became charged with energy. A lot of high-tier expert pilots looked either pensive or eager. A pitched battle like the one that was coming was the best opportunity for them to realize their breakthroughs. Each of them felt their chances were considerably higher than before. They had learned about Ketis' revolutionary Heaven Earth Man Trifecta and used this theory to increase their qualifications for advancements. This made the battle important for Swordmaster Ketis as well. If the adherents of her new theoretical framework managed to break through at a higher rate than usual, then that would definitely serve as a powerful piece of evidence that her Heaven Earth Man Trifecta was valid to the mech pilot profession! The expert pilots were already convinced by it. Not only did it explain Dise's impressive breakthrough, but they also felt the benefits of focusing on developing the concepts or elements that would comprise their future domains. Several high-tier expert pilots had already decided to stake their lives on a breakthrough!