The Mech Touch

Chapter 6662 New Synergies

The Bitter Scimitar and the Amaranto Mark III were not the only new combat assets that the mech designers of the Larkinson Clan had introduced to the expeditionary fleet. Ketis had already released a corrective update to the recently released Stormblade Samurai Mark II that offered significant advancements related to her new School of Reformed Swordsmanship.

This was especially relevant to the Larkinsons as the Swordmaiden Mech Legion already fielded a small but formidable core of quasi-first-class versions of the Stormblade Samurai Mark II!

The good news was that the older version did not have to be scrapped. Ketis and other competent mech designers or mech technicians could apply relatively quick and easy modifications in order to update them to the latest iteration of the design.

That allowed them to be fully ready and prepared to fight at their best in the upcoming confrontation.

Another new addition to the lineup was the mysterious Karma Cutter mech line.

Absolutely no one aside from Ketis knew how Ves was able to design and complete this solo project without exposing any news.

Just like the Stormblade Samurai Mark II and many other releases from the Design Department, the Karma Cutter came in two different editions.

The Commercial Edition was a fairly mid-range hyper mech that attempted to find a balance between functionality and affordability.

So far, the regular second-class version of the Karma Cutter failed to make an impression. People did not understand the point of this rifleman mech in the current day and age.

It sounded like an effective counter against many forms of hyper technology. It also promised to be highly effective against cultivators.

However, most ranged mech pilots worried more about shooting down agile phasefighters and wearing down the formidable defenses of enemy warships more than anything. They had no need for a mech that sounded like it was more effective at countering human forces!

The Larkinsons reacted more positively to the introduction of the Larkinson Edition of the Karma Cutter.

The quasi-first-class rifleman mech packed a mean punch, and while it lacked the luminar crystal weapons of other machines such as the Fey Fianna, that didn't matter when firing at huge and not too mobile targets such as phase lords and warships! Ves had been quite clear that he designed the Karma Cutter specifically for the Battle

Crier Mech Legion.

The Battle Criers in turn welcomed this mech model with open arms. They had always felt neglected due to their lack of signature mechs that could allow them to differentiate themselves from the other mech legions and develop their own iconic mech doctrines and battle tactics.

However, there was one other mech legion in particular that objected to the exclusivity of the Larkinson Edition of the Karma Cutter!

"Why do oafs like you get to enjoy the Karma Cutter by yourself?!" A Penitent Sister mech pilot marched up to a group of Battle Criers and complained. "This is a mech blessed by the Superior Mother herself! It is only through the power of her damnation phase that this Karma Cutter can strip away the power of hyper technology and isolate its enemies! This should be our signature mech model, as we are the people who can best channel the Superior Mother's power!"

"Well, though luck, woman, because the Karma Cutter is all ours. The patriarch himself designed it for us. We are the only mech legion that is equipped to fight against. extraordinary threats, whether they come in the form of high-ranking mechs, qi cultivators or alien phase lords. We need a mech like this in order to do our jobs properly. Stick to what you are good at and we will stick to ours. Just because the Superior Mother is a design spirit to the Karma Cutter does not mean that you can take it away from our mech legion. If you have a problem with that, take it up with the patriarch!"

While the Penitent Sisters continued to complain about the fact that the brutes of the Battle Criers could not properly appreciate a mech that was blessed by the Superior Mother, that did not stop the latter from acclimating to their new machines and their interesting new weapon.

The Null Rifle was an unconventional mech rifle that forced the Battle Criers to adopt a completely different approach from what they were accustomed to when piloting the Nullifier mech model.

The latter was equipped with the iconic but aging Godkiller Heavy Luminar Crystal Rifles.

Previously, the Nullifier Battalion had made a name for themselves when employing the enhanced versions of normal transphasic luminar crystal rifles. They were the most effective standard weapons to employ against phase lords outside of certain artillery

cannons.

This made the Nullifiers equipped with the limited amount of Godkillers a favorite target for Commandeering or Enfeoffment for Saint Commander Casella Ingvar.

Now, she had gained another powerful option in the form of the new quasi-first-class Karma Cutter mechs.

The only problem was that Ves released them so recently that the Larkinson Clan could only produce and ship out a limited quantity of them. The Spirit of Bentheim had to stay

behind rather than joining the preemptive evacuation just so that her fabrication halls could churn out as many Karma Cutters as possible!

"It is worth it." Legion Commander Hugin Cinnabar told the Saint Commander when she paid a visit to the Battle Criers in order to examine the new mechs in person. "The Nullifiers are not weak by any means. Their Godkillers are still amazing. It is just that they were designed to allow standard mech pilots to suppress and maybe even take out enemy expert mechs. They were mechs designed for the conflicts of the past. The best thing about the Karma Cutters is that they are designed for the conflicts of the future. While they are admittedly not as valuable in the present, their value will only increase once more and more human as well as alien threats make more extensive use of E energy to empower all of their combat measures."

Casella Ingvar studied the copies of the Karma Cutters that were currently on standby in one of the hangar bays.

As an ace pilot, she and her companion spirit could always obtain a good impression of what another living mech was good at by relying on her Command Field and other

senses.

Right now, she could feel that the Karma Cutter was designed around the concept of severing something mysterious and intangible.

Its physical damage output was not the highest by any means, but its true lethality rested in its ability to disrupt the enemy's connection to E energy radiation and

potentially other factors.

Legion Commander Cinnabar and Saint Commander Casella directed much of their attention to the specially designed weapon of the Karma Cutter.

"The Null Rifle is a low-tech ballistic rifle." The Battle Crier Commander said. "But that is an oversimplified explanation. It is best characterized as a delivery vehicle for Null Rounds. The hyper bullets are designed to cut the karma bonds of anything it hits, whatever that means. We have only briefly tested out this feature and found that it actually does what it is supposed to do. The only issue is that since the Null Rounds need to be fabricated in large numbers, they are only made up of low-grade or occasionally medium-grade exotics and hypers. They are not laced with phasewater either, which means that a single round cannot produce much of a difference. Getting struck by a single energy beam from the Godkiller Heavy Luminar Crystal Rifle is much more painful."'

Ballistic rifles generally inflicted much less damage on impact than gauss rifles. The firing rate of the latter was generally low, but they were much more favored in mech combat because each projectile flew much faster and had an easier time punching through armor.

"I see what you mean." Casella said with greater interest. "The Null Rifle is a polar opposite of the Godkiller. It is weapon that relies on spraying lots of low-grade bullets, hoping that piling up on quantity can produce a qualitative change. It is an interesting

concept. There is an exception, though."

"Two exceptions, to be precise. First, the Null Rifle is equipped with an underbarrel grenade launcher. The Karma Cutter can choose to launch a Null Round Grenade. It works similar to a fragmentation grenade in that it is designed to launch Null Rounds in every direction upon detonation. I am told that the patriarch designed it to let the Null Rounds cut the karma bonds of targets that are poorly protected from behind and to more effectively take out highly maneuverable small craft."

The grenades significantly enhanced the Karma Cutter's ability to fend off alien phasefighters and other mechs. The new mechs only had to be careful not to throw them near other friendly mechs!

"What about the Ultimate Module? I am told that this is the crowning feature of your Karma Cutter model."n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

The legion commander grinned. "That is right. It is a rather strange device. We haven't been able to test it because it relies on a specific condition in order to work. Supposedly, the 'D-Chamber' can capture a strong soul of one of enemies that are killed in the vicinity of the mech. After the D-Chamber imbues that soul into a Null Round, the projectile will undergo a powerful transformation over time that makes it much deadlier than before. After that, we can choose to fire it, allowing it to cause much more damage than what the Null Rifle is ordinarily capable of. The patriarch isn't able to give us any more details than that, but he swears it is worth it. He did warn us that we need to be careful about handling the D-Round. If we don't fire it in a short amount of time, then we need to transfer it to containment in order to prevent it from wrecking our Null

Rifles." Saint Commander Casella frowned. The functionality of the new Ultimate Module sounded a bit too convoluted. The time it took to create a D-round was especially concerning. A decisive battle was about to take place, so she was afraid that the Karma Cutters wouldn't have time to produce a single decent D-Round.

She inwardly shrugged. There was no need for her to pine over this unreliable gimmick.

She already understood what the Karma Cutter was capable of, and she could see many ways she could make them more useful in the upcoming battle.

"I have heard enough, Cinnabar. Patriarch Ves designed the Karma Cutter for good reasons, and I believe I may be able to leverage them to our advantage in the upcoming fight. Please tell your men to take into account that I may Commandeer or even Enfeoff them, especially in the latter phases of the battle."

"Will you begin by empowering the heavy artillery mechs in our fleet?" Commander Cinnabar asked in a knowing tone.

"That is correct. My current plan is to begin the fight by empowering the Transcendent Punisher Mark III's in our fleet. Their long-ranged damage output is excellent, and I can use them to soften up the defenses of any incoming phase lords and warships. I will not be able to do this forever, because the Eye of Ylvaine mechs are essentially stationary. It

would not do me good to remain in a single position, especially if I am being pursued by one or more phase lords. I will need faster and much more mobile mechs by my side to inflict massed resonance-empowered ranged attacks. I am reluctant to throw melee mechs against phase lords, but now that the Karma Cutter model has entered into service, I have a better alternative available. I will rely on your Nullifier mechs for long-ranged damage output. I will make use of the new Karma Cutter mechs to rapidly debilitate enemy phase lords at mid-range or closer."

Both commanders could see the synergy between Casella's Command Field and the

Karma Cutters.

A single Null Round was weak. Firing lots of them in a short amount of time could produce better results, but there was a limit to this improvement.

What if Casella suddenly Enfeoffed a Karma Cutter into a Baron, thereby temporarily boosting its offensive performance to the level of a low-tier expert mech?

Its Null Rifle would hit much harder, and its extraordinary effects may become amplified

as well!

If Casella repeated this trick with 30 more Karma Cutters, then nobody could imagine how much more dramatic their damage output and offensive utility would become! This was the power of a good high-ranking mech commander!