The Mech Touch

Chapter 6663 The Power of Ark

As the defenders of Viola Magnifica made their final preparations, the native aliens were wrapping up their own efforts.

Scouts had observed that the native aliens had stopped receiving any further

reinforcements a day ago. The alien commanders were now busy with trying to organize their many fleets and agree on a common attack plan.

This would probably take a bit of time, but not too much. The only reason why the aliens had yet to start their offensive was because the attacking side consisted of fleets that

belonged to multiple different alien races.

Interspecies coordination had always been a problem for the native races. They generally did not like each other. While the circumstances forced them to set aside their animosity towards each other, that did not mean that all of their hostility had disappeared.

Entire battles had been won or lost depending on how extensively the fleets of different races were willing to coordinate their maneuvers with each other!

Bad teamwork could occasionally lose them a battle that they should have won in theory due to their superior numbers!

Such problems occurred quite frequently in the beginning of the Red Tide Offensive. The aliens were learning, though. They were not inflexible enough to let this problem persist. They discovered the hard way that it was better to delay an attack and reserve an additional day just to sort out the coordination problems in advance.

A big attack like the one that was about to take place may cause the aliens to sit around for two more days, but not any longer than that. They were eager to produce results, because the longer they lingered, the greater the chance a random god pilot might drop into the star system and wipe them all out en masse!

As the specter of a decisive battle loomed over everyone's heads, the remaining high-ranking mech pilots in the Viola Magnifica System were doing their best to improve their chances to make a difference during the imminent battle.

With the departure of many powerful ace mechs such as the Mars and the Royal Jeem, the burden largely shifted to the remaining expert mechs.

This was hard because according to the latest scouts, there were as many as six phase lords gearing up to lead the upcoming attack!

Saint Linda Cross and Saint Commander Casella could not fend off six phase lords at once, of whom several happened to be greater phase lords that possessed rich experience with fighting against ace mechs.

Unlike the Battle of Mazepan where Saint. Tusa Billingsley-Larkinson managed to slay a powerful greater phase lord while driving away another, support from the Red Three

was meager to say the least.

While their fixed combat assets remained in the star systems, they had withdrawn part of their mobile assets.

There were less first-class multipurpose mechs and warships left to provide fire support and help with wearing down the defenses of the formidable phase lords.

This meant that the burden shifted to the remaining ace pilots and expert pilots.

When they compared their strength to the estimations of the enemy's strength, it was clear that the former fell short by a huge extent!

There was only one surefire way to even the odds.

"We need to break through."

"If we don't have at least three or more breakthroughs, the enemy phase lords will be able to overpower us by relying on a combination of numbers and hard power."

Every expert pilot. knew what needed to be done. Expectations were high, causing many of the ace pilot candidates to bear a lot of pressure.

General Ark and Venerable Benjamin were among the ones that felt a lot of responsibility over their continued failure to break through.

Ketis had met with the two in order to provide her consultation to the pair of expert pilots that had remained stuck despite being paired with two near-modern high-tier expert mechs.

"Have you thought about what I shared with you last time, Ark?"

The general of the 77th Warborn slowly nodded. "I have. I have spent hours musing over your theories. To be honest, I did not want to admit that a younger woman such as yourself possesses a greater grasp on the nature of our power to the point of developing a logical theory on how we can work towards our breakthroughs. However, it is childish of me to reject your advice because of our generational gap. I have talked to several other expert pilots about your Heaven Earth Man Trifecta, and they all agree that your theory is the best one they heard, even though it is short on specifics. It at least gives us a more reliable means to evaluate our development and figure out what we need to work upon as expert pilots."

"And do you recognize which of the three aspects you can work on in a short amount of time?"

"I do." The general spoke. "The Heaven component is most likely holding me back the most. I admit that my Man component is not as good as that of Venerable Dise before her deserved breakthrough, but I have been working on that for months. According to your theory, the reason why I still failed to trigger my breakthrough was that I was directing too much attention on repairing my willpower. I completely neglected the necessity of building up the foundation of what will become my domain." Privately, Ketis believed that General Ark's weakest aspect was actually his Man score as

opposed to his Heaven score.

She did not think it was wise to share that particular opinion with him. His pride had been repeatedly bruised over the years as younger and more talented Larkinson expert pilots successively broke through.

Saint Tusa Billingsley-Larkinson, Saint Isobel Kotin and Saint Commander Casella Ingvar were all young enough to be his children!

The matter became a little more questionable in the case of the more older Saint Dise Larkinson, but she still belonged to a younger generation than Ark!

It must have been hard for the prodigy and rising war hero from a past age to see himself get overtaken by these youngsters all of the time.

General Ark must regularly be questioning his own competence why he couldn't become an ace pilot despite piloting the Lionheart, a still fairly recent fifth generation living mech and a masterwork no less!

This made it all the more delicate for Ketis to bring up this topic. She had already done her best by giving him a theoretical framework that he could use to analyze his own

shortcomings.

She only feared that his blindspot regarding his own qualities may be too big for him to come to the correct conclusion.

That wasn't her theoretical model's fault. It would merely be another case of garbage in,

garbage out!

Instead of trying to solve General Ark's true shortcomings, Ketis believed it was much more realistic to help him improve his Heaven score instead.

At least that should be an attainable goal in the short term.Nôv(el)B\\jnn

"Given your unorthodox approach as a high-ranking mech commander, have you figured out what 'element' or 'concept' defines you best?" She asked instead.

"I have thought about it. The initial answer I came up with was light. I have always seen myself as the savior and protector of my troops and my state. I always feel obliged to stand up and become the brightest presence on the battlefield so that the enemy focuses their attacks on myself rather than the troops under my command. The Lionheart was also designed with this concept. With the help of Lumosium, it literally shines brighter when my willpower grows stronger and my Warborn places their faith in me and my machine. I like to see myself as a paladin who is sworn to use the light to protect the weak and the incapable."

Ketis looked intrigued. "Is that what you truly think you are? Do you see yourself as an incarnation of light that is compelled to protect the weak?"

Ark slowly shook his head. "I used to think that, but light is more of a tool to me than a quality that defines my being. I like to shine bright because of practical considerations, not because I am a vain attention seeker who wants everyone to stare at me. I think that

there is a better concept out there that can encapsulate my philosophy towards combat. In order to figure it out, I have been spending my time on rewatching archival footage of all of my previous battles."

"And did you manage to find it while reviewing the highlights of your mech piloting

career?"

"I think so." General Ark said with a confident expression. "It clicked with me when I

thought about it. While I have not been able to manifest it particularly well like Saint Dise had done just before her breakthrough, I know in my heart that I have found the

right direction for myself."

"Would you like to share this concept that you think represents you best?" Ketis

curiously asked.

"Idol."

The swordmaster blinked. "What?"

"Perhaps I should use the term idolatry instead. General Ark said with a smile. "I greatly identify myself with the ideas behind this term. Idolatry stands for showing extreme admiration or reverence to another. For much of my life, I have served as a role model and an example to others. From my classmates at the mech academy to the soldiers of the Mech Corps, I have always felt the need to step up and give the masses the encouragement they demanded of me. At times, I even felt as if I had become a god. Perhaps I should have used the concept of belief or worship instead, but as a Brighter that makes me feel uncomfortable. I am fine if others regard me as their idol, because that is what I am. Their faith in me literally fuels my power. The stronger they think I am, the stronger I become in reality. Now that I have recognized this core component of my power, I am confident that I will succeed in breaking through in the next battle!"

"...That sounds marvelous, Ark."

"You agree, right?! It is so obvious, yet. I have never consciously thought about it in all of

the years I have been fighting as a high-tier expert pilot. Now that you have helped me discover my true power, I am preparing myself to commit as fully to the upcoming battle as possible. I have already made the arrangements to spread my name to the troops outside of the 77th Warborn. The more people I am able to inspire, the more I will be able to reward them by fighting harder than I have ever done before!" Ketis had to admit that this was definitely an answer that only Ark could come up with.

She suspected that the main reason why he identified so much with this concept was because he was his own biggest worshiper!

Still, whether he was right or not, at least he had broadened his perspective and was working on improving his strength from another angle.

"Since this is the case, you don't need my guidance anymore. My only remaining advice

to you is that if you are truly convinced that idolatry is the basis of your power, then you should be careful to fight on your own battlefield. If you stay too close to other high-profile champions, you will have to share the limelight with them. They are also

idols to the troops, you know."

"I am aware of this problem." Ark seriously responded. "My chances of breaking through are much greater if I am the only high-ranking expert pilot on the battlefield, but I can work with this situation. The enemy will never allow us to fight our ideal battles. As long as I can persevere and stand out on my own, I will never fail. This is what I believe." Well, at least Ark was not lacking in confidence anymore.