Chapter 6942 Lighting Application Although it was just the opening strike, the fact that an enemy not only managed to get its hands on weapon-grade superdimensional matter, but decisively expended it on an assassination attempt against Ves showed real commitment! There was an enemy out there that was willing to waste extremely valuable resources just to make Ves dead! Many people frowned when they thought about who might have a reason to eliminate Ves and who possessed the qualifications to obtain the highest grade of superdimensional matter. When they put these two lists together and identified which parties happened to be present in both, there was still a fair number of individuals and organizations that happened to be on both at the same time. Perhaps the Larkinson Clan might be able to narrow down the possible culprits further by attempting to collect additional intelligence on the suspicious actors, but Ves did not think that his spies could gain any conclusive answers. His personal assistant concurred. "The groups that have received a batch of weapon-grade superdimensional matter are known to us, but it is dangerous for us to accuse any of them for being responsible for bombarding the facility where the operations took place without solid proof. We can conduct all of the data analysis we want, but it is all circumstantial at best. If it is too difficult for us to obtain answers, then it is best not to seek them out and risk making the wrong judgments." "The Devos Ancient Clan bears culpability. That cannot be denied." Casella Ingvar stated. "It is clear that a third party has secretly compromised the orbital defense platform and hacked it to launch the superdimensional round at us, but that does not excuse the negligence shown by the Devosans. Not only did they miss the transfer of an extremely rare and dangerous superdimensional gauss round, but none of its personnel had successfully managed to detect and report the discrepancies in time." Ves casually waved his hand. "The kind of people that are able to obtain weapon-grade superdimensional matter is not average. These top powers have plenty of ways to compromise the security of one of many orbital defense platforms. That does not necessarily excuse this security breach, but I don't blame the Devosans for their failure. We would have been just as helpless if we took their place. There is no need to give them a hard time." The Devos Ancient Clan had shown a lot of goodwill towards the Larkinson Clan. The two maintained friendly relations as well as a few ongoing business agreements. Ves was not keen on disrupting this mutually beneficial relationship. Several people nodded after Ves had made his case. "Our clan is prepared to demand moderate concessions from the Devosans." Gavin said. "The ancient clan will most definitely oblige to our requests, if only to rebuild trust and win back the honor it had lost for allowing such an important guest to become exposed to elevated danger." This should not be a difficult matter. Ves believed that his staff could take care of this issue by themselves. The footage of what happened in the operation chamber resumed. By this time, a number of mechs had become affected by the surprise attack. Those that were located close enough had suffered varying degrees of damage! Now that a giant hole had formed that led directly down to the operation chamber, it became clear that a follow-up attack became likely. Many mechs scrambled into action. They activated their strongest active sensors while moving into tighter formations. The Dracoloids, Omega Threshers and E-MULES all utilized their own bulk to partially fill up the large gap and prevent any external parties from intruding into the operation chamber. Their attempts to form a blockade looked cute, but it had been utterly useless against the next foe! They initially emerged from the shadows. Parts of the entire floor that had been shrouded before suddenly became a lot darker! The shadows initially grew darker and more ominous. Then they appeared to gain definition as different shapes emerged from those shadow pools! Within a matter of seconds, over a hundred strange existences turned from shadow into reality! Though the creatures remained predominantly dark, their transformation into a more physical existence caused their appearances to become more defined. "Are those… phase lords?" The dark aliens initially looked like undersized phase lords. They were roughly as large as mechs, but did not come in greater sizes. Their contours clearly resembled that of the major races that had fought against red humanity. The dark aliens possessed body shapes that correspond to orvens, nunsers, juregs and even humans! Yet they did not behave like any of those aliens. As they came to life, they immediately began to show their hostility by trying to converge onto Ves, who was still lying on the operating table at this time! Naturally, the first-class multipurpose mechs of the Premier Branch immediately went into action. Dozens of Dracoloids tore into the strange apparitions while the Omega Threshers provided support further away. The Saint Commander did not want to leave anything to chance and Enfeoffed as many of the friendly machines as possible. However, much to everyone's surprise, these new enemies were able to put up a much better fight than anyone anticipated! They seemed to possess a fraction of the strength of phase lords. However, their main element was no longer space, but death. "These enemies came across as 'undead' to me." Casella Ingvar said. "They possessed many traits that reminded me of enemy phase lords. I have searched the database for phase lords that have perished during the Red War, and I have found numerous matches between the slain phase lords and the death-based ghosts that came to life earlier today. Despite losing the strong physical bodies that phase lords are proud of, their death-infused forms are able to corrode and kill anything it comes into contact with. My Knights and Vassals were only able to resist this dangerous attack vector by relying heavily on my true resonance." The footage reflected the struggles of the Minerva Mark II and the mechs under her command. Their combined combat power was already high. For them to falter before the Premier Fleet took its first true step into the stars would set a bad tone for the rest of the campaign! Compared to the ace command pilot, Saint Dise fought more directly. Her superdimensional ace mech possessed unparalleled lethality against all manner of life forms, and she took advantage of that to clear a safe zone around Ves' true body. The ace swordsman mech managed to shred all of the dark ghost-like beings that crossed an invisible circle around Ves! Yet despite these efforts, the superdimensional First Sword Mark III ultimately met its match when she got mobbed by three nunser-like aliens that wielded their own versions of Saint Piercer arms! Even though their superdimensional weapons were not based on solid matter, they seemed to gain a lot more lethality after this transformation! "These enemies are terrible to fight against." Saint Dise shared her evaluation. "The copies imitate the power, abilities and weapons of the dead, but also put their own spin on them. That results in half-baked superdimensional weapons that are nonetheless steeped with death energy and other negative energies. These beings are filled with pure evil. While it shouldn't have taken too long for my battle partner and I to wipe them out, we were being held back long enough for other dark ghosts to threaten your life." More of the dark shades that reminded Ves of the fiends deployed by the Phobos. For whatever reason, he could see the obvious parallels between the two. He did not think they were precisely the same kind of existences, but just the comparison was enough for Ves to grow vigilant towards the maker of these death shades, if such a being was even real! Whatever the case, numerous death spectres emerged from the shadows cast by the operating table. They emerged close enough that few mechs were in the position to beat them back! Multiple first-class multipurpose mechs had already shifted their ranged weapons to open fire at the would-be assissins. However, many of them demonstrated exquisite evasion capabilities and were ready to strike directly at Ves' true body! That was until 'he' fully woke up and activated his strengthened spatial barrier. "Insolent!" Ves roared as he also stimulated his lesser Acris organ to release a powerful discharge of electrical energy! Though Ves originally meant to use this phasewater organ to power up his own tech, it turned out that the radial lightning attack successfully kept the native aliens at bay! This generated enough room for him to rise from the table and stand upright. The unawakened Ves also took the opportunity to increase the size of his true body, causing him to gain significantly more mass and leverage! The expression on his face displayed a familiar kind of anger, but those who knew him well should be able to tell that this was not how he usually expressed his fury! "You filthy deathborn parasites! You dare to desecrate my holy physique?! My true body is my temple! It is the center of my divinity! You deserve annihilation for your blasphemous transgressions!" After shouting those completely conceited, arrogant and foreign words, Ves began to tear into the attackers. He skillfully wielded the capabilities of the lesser Arcis organ. His body appeared to gain a notable immunity to electrical attacks. He fearlessly surrounded himself with lightning bolts and used his energized body as a powerful counter and deterrent against the dark alien shades! "The lighting power that you have been able to call from your latest phasewater organ is not that powerful." Gloriana commented. "It shouldn't have killed those dark aliens so easily when other weapons struggle to eliminate them entirely. The only explanation that makes sense in this situation is that strong positive energy can counter strong negative energy." The Ves whose body was controlled by an alter ego fought well. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞 In fact, he fought with far greater skill and deliberation than he had ever shown before. This enabled Ves to remain competitive in a fight against the undead beings! It looked glorious. For all of his boasting, the alter ego of Ves actually knew how to fight and make skillful use of his phase lord physique! Due to his active involvement, the dark shades were ultimately unable to finish off their target. They were only able to cripple a notable amount of mechs and kill a few mech pilots outright. The Premier Fleet had suffered its first true casualties before it embarked on its long-awaited war campaign! The Ves who clearly had no qualms about abusing the lesser Arcis organ continued to throw lightning punches left and right. Though there were a number of times when the unknown enemies got close to inflicting serious harm to Ves, he relied on the power of his enhanced Kelsis organ and Arcis organ to push back his enemies and keep himself out of harm's way! "You foul cheaters of death shall meet your ultimate end at my hands! Your cursed existence shall befoul us no more! Only the living deserve to earn the mantle of godhood!" Though the Larkinsons continued to suffer casualties in their attempts to suppress and defeat these enemies that came from the shadows, their threat quickly came to an end when they were no longer being replenished. The deadly shades soon lost their numbers advantage and rapidly dwindled until nothing was left. In the end, Ves remained frozen while also holding the disconnected arm of a friendly mech. The footage ended at this point. Ves already knew what happened next. "So this is what you all fought against." He whispered in both awe and confusion. "Who are these aliens? How can they emerge from the shadows? Why have sacrificed so much in an attempt to deprive me of life? This is intolerable!" These new mystery aliens generated way more questions than answers. Trying to figure out who they were and where they came from might not be easy considering that they never left any records behind in the Red Ocean. Who were these guys?!