"Saint Dise Larkinson claimed her first kill." Ves uttered as he observed the battle in the comfort of his own design lab. He had declined to observe the battle at the bridge of the Tortuous Scream. He did not possess a lot of military acumen, and there was little chance he could offer any advice that Casella Ingvar had not already considered herself. Besides, he felt it would be better if the soldiers of the Premier Fleet got used to being led by the Saint Commander. His presence in the bridge might cause Larkinsons to doubt who they should look to for orders. "Not exactly, Ves." The physical projection of Ketis muttered. "To most observers, it is the superdimensional ace swordsman mech that claimed her first kill. This is an important distinction." "You and I both know that Saint Dise's skills bring out the most in her ace mech and her weapons, but I know what you mean. The role played by her weapon-grade superdimensional greatsword is disproportionately decisive in this confrontation. Sure, the Fifth Lord of Bis'qet did not know what to expect, but that final display of hers was an overwhelming demonstration of the power of high-grade superdimensional matter." "At least this duel, however brief it may be, will prove that even weaker ace pilots can properly leverage the power of superdimensional matter. I have received more than my fair share of criticism that told me that expending so much weapon and armor-grade superdimensional matter on the machine of a junior ace pilot is wasted." "Now that Saint Dise has mopped up the greater phase lord that is most susceptible to her blades, she is left with two much more difficult opponents. Are you worried?" "Not that much." Ketis continued to express her confidence in her work. "No matter what tricks they may pull off, the difference in material quality is not a gap that they can close so easily. I am already happy with the results. It is a bonus if Saint Dise manages to drive away the other two greater phase lords, but strictly speaking, it is already enough if she is able to keep them occupied. It would be especially great if she can hunt down the lesser phase lords while she is at it. The Saint Commander and the rest of her forces are about to enter into engagement range with the remaining alien forces. I am confident that she can crush the spirits of the alien cannon fodder." Although the alien forces did not show it, they definitely received a heavy blow to their morale! These days, most aliens accepted the reality that the human 'false gods' possessed the ability to defeat and even kill their own native gods. The demise of so many lesser phase leaders, greater phase leaders and most egregiously ancient phase whales could not be hidden from the masses. Perhaps the Red Cabal and other alien groups likened the human high-ranking pilots as devils who had come from another galaxy to corrupt and devour the righteous gods of the Red Ocean. Whatever the case, both Ves and Ketis had high hopes that the First Sword Mark III would embrace this evil role and continue to add more phase lord kills to her name! "How is your 'other mission' coming along?" Ketis casually asked. "Karnak Base has become much more devastated than I anticipated." Her former mentor replied. "All of the damage and debris is making it easier for Lucky and my avatar to sneak around. The alien guards also have much greater concerns on their minds than a pair of sneaky buggers. The only downside is that navigation has also become a lot more difficult. Entire corridors and rooms have collapsed. We have yet to find the inner sanctum of the resident greater phase lord." "You were looking for a pool of water, right? Shouldn't that be easy for you to detect?" "It would if I dare to turn on our active sensor systems. That would immediately give away the presence of infiltrators. I prefer to keep the alien soldiers ignorant and stupid." While the two mech designers continued to talk, the situation on the battlefield had taken a new turn. The Protector of Karnak and the Endless Stomach had finally arrived, but not in time to save their fallen comrade. The two arrivals were not only phase lords in the field. 11 lesser phase lords had deployed near the flagships of their fleets, which matched the gathered intelligence. A team of 2 greater phase lords backed up by 11 lesser phase lords was a potent killing force in almost any other situation. No single ace mech could withstand the coordinated pressure of so many phase lords at once! Yet the superdimensional First Sword Mark III presented such a drastic technological leap from the previous human false gods that none of the alien native gods dared to take this new opponent lightly. According to the resonance meters that the native aliens had adopted in order to measure the strength of these confounding human false gods, the First Sword Mark III's true resonance only measured a peak of 133 laveres at most. The higher-ranking aliens knew that these ace mechs posed a real threat against one or two lesser phase lords, but could easily be repelled by a larger band of native gods. Of course, it took a lot more than that to actually kill these fast and annoying metal flies. Yet this superdimensional fly already demonstrated a crushing amount of strength at this measly level of resonance strength. The alien leaders did not know what to do. This was a completely new situation to them. The humans had once again rewritten the rules. After the phase lords conferred among themselves on a private communication channel, they finally formulated their emergency strategy. The lesser phase lords wisely stuck close to their fleets and showed no intention of getting close to the First Sword Mark III. Her mobility combined with her high-grade superdimensional armor system made her impervious against practically anything these weaker phase lords could throw at the ace mech! In the end, the Protector of Karnak and the Endless Stomach assumed the dangerous but necessary duty of fighting the threatening machine. Before they made their moves, the jureg greater phase lord decided to address the "#$&$&@$%." 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞 "HUMAN FALSE GOD." The jureg greater phase lord addressed the human ace pilot. "THIEF YOU MAY BE, BUT YOU HAVE EARNED OUR ACKNOWLEDGEMENT FOR DEFEATING ONE OF OUR GODS. ANNOUNCE YOUR IDENTITY. WE MUST KNOW KNOW WHO HAS COME TO CHALLENGE US WITH A MACHINE BUILT ON THE BONES OF THE ELDER GODS." Silence ensued as the First Sword Mark III did not appear to be in a hurry to respond. In fact, Saint Dise recognized the benefit of stalling. Each passing second brought the forces of the Premier Fleet and the Bluejay Fleet closer to Screed Tanner VI-F. Stalling also bought her ace mech precious time to run her diagnostic systems and perform a myriad of fine adjustments. It might not look like it, but the First Sword Mark III overstressed a few of her systems. As a brand-new ace mech that had yet to test her systems in a battle of this intensity, the First Sword Mark III had already overloaded her Electro-Reactant Flight System several times. Her arms and shoulders also endured a disproportionately large amount of physical pressure during the moment the ace mech split the Saint Piercer along a third of its length. While the First Sword Mark III appeared extraordinarily valiant while pulling off these heroic feats, the reality was that Dise had been a bit too eager to push her machine to her limits and perhaps beyond! While mechs and particularly high-end ones like the Mark III were designed for extreme performance, the problem was that the ace mech was still new and untested. Even with the willpower baptism of an ace pilot, the latest iteration of the First Sword still presented a lot of unknowns. Ketis and the mechers were particularly concerned about unexpected side effects of placing advanced technological components in very close proximity to large amounts of high-grade superdimensional matter. It was not impossible for the former to glitch out during a crucial moment. Fortunately, such a disaster had yet to happen, but it was still risky for Saint Dise to play with fire in her very first engagement with her new machine. This was why the Larkinsons and mechers were glad that she was not eager to press the attack. Her highly engineered ace mech needed all of the time she could get to complete her self-diagnostics and detect potential catastrophes in advance and make sure to squash them while they were still in their infancy. After a lengthy pause, the First Sword finally responded. The ace mech lifted her Decapitator and held it in front of her with the blade pointed upwards. Her large and dazzling electric wings unfolded from behind while her sword fey assumed a perfectly symmetrical wedge formation that extended the illusionary wings. "I AM SAINT DISE LARKINSON, PILOT AND PARTNER OF THE FIRST SWORD MARK III. BOTH OF US HAIL FROM THE LARKINSON CLAN. NOW YOU KNOW WHO HAS TAKEN THE LIFE OF ALIEN COMRADE IN ARMS. BY THE TIME THIS BATTLE COMES TO AN END, HE SHALL NOT BE THE ONLY GREATER PHASE LORD WHO FALLS AT OUR HAND." Her response sounded simple and went straight to the point. She even made the arrogant declaration that she would take the life of another greater phase lord! Although this was an incredibly arrogant and foolish claim to make when her resonance strength peaked only at 133 laveres, the Protector of Karnak and the Endless Stomach had no choice but to respect her words! Perhaps the ace pilot alone did not constitute a serious threat against them, but her ace mech completely changed the game. The human false gods relied too much on their metal technology to enhance their combat potential. The alien gods looked down on these weak and puny humans for basing their strength on how well they controlled their fancy equipment as opposed to becoming strong in the most direct possible manner. Yet the alien phase leaders also hated and feared the humans for being so damn good at becoming one with their combat gear! Despite the fact that even a normal footsoldier could kill an ace pilot when the latter was outside of a cockpit, as long as the human false god was in place, then he became nearly unkillable. The humans hated the phase leaders for relying on their incredibly strong spatial barriers to resist so many attacks. At the same time, the aliens hated human ace mechs for relying on their small size, their good to excellent mobility and their absurd reality-defying Saint Kingdoms for being difficult to kill as well! Both sides relied on completely different heritages and technological paradigms to gain supremacy on and off the battlefield. Although they could look down on each other all they wanted, that did not stop them from being effective. Now, red humanity had taken the lead in this high-level arms race. If high-grade superdimensional matter became more common, then the alien gods needed to be even more careful on the battlefield! "$#&@$#&%&#." "YOU HAVE BECOME STRONG, BUT ONLY BY RELYING ON THE BONES OF ANCIENT GODS THAT HAVE LONG DISAPPEARED. BE WARNED, DISE OF THE LARKINSONS, FOR YOUR STRENGTH IS STOLEN FROM US, THE DESCENDANTS OF THE ELDER GODS. WE SHALL ONE DAY TAKE BACK WHAT IS OURS. THE GODBONES THAT YOU RELY SO MUCH UPON SHALL BE STRIPPED AWAY FROM YOUR MACHINE, LEAVING YOU WITH NOTHING BUT A METAL SHELL. OUR WRATH IS ENDLESS, AND YOUR TINY BODY CAN NEVER WITHSTAND OUR RETRIBUTION." Those words certainly sounded ominous, but phase lords had a tendency to be blowhards. Saint Dise completely shrugged off the threat and warning and readied herself for the second round of battle. Her ace mech raised her Decapitator. "BONES OR NOT, IT DOESN'T MATTER. THE LAW OF THE JUNGLE APPLIES. KILL ME AND TAKE AWAY OUR SUPERDIMENSIONAL MATTER IF YOU OBJECT TO MY BATTLE PARTNER. JUST DO NOT COMPLAIN IF WE DO THE SAME TO YOUR ENORMOUS BODY!"