Just before the air battle broke out in earnest, the Avatar and Vandal ch pilots took advantage of the short reprieve to reorganize their lines and form a new battle plan.
The surviving chs of the first wave were no longer fresh and battle ready as before. They had perford valiantly against the black chs and it was unreasonable to ask them to fight as hard as before.
It was a pity that the current situation of the Larkinsons didn't look favorable. The second wave brought around 320 chs to the battlefield, but that still left them considerably outnumbered by the 500 formidable-looking Diyast chs!
Though the aerial chs that had showed up also featured bland designs that lacked inspiration, their overall quality was still high enough to give any Larkinson ch a run for its money.
As many analysts and ch designers of the Larkinson Clan began to perform rapid estimates of the enemy's expected battle performance, their overall conclusions weren't optimistic.
"In terms of value, the two sides are roughly even. Our Bright Warriors and Ferocious Piranhas are qualitatively better. In terms of numbers, the story is different. Missing a hundred or so chs matters significantly when the gap between the chs of both sides isn't overwhelmingly wide… The Diyasts will be able to take advantage of their superior numbers to gain the initiative and maneuver much more freely on the battlefield."
This was exactly what happened when both sides began to fight in the air!
The Diyasts didn't bother to communicate with the Larkinsons. Ernesto Diyast and his trusted n were completely consud by their need to take revenge against the Purnesse Family! Nothing, not even a foreign clan with an unusual battle style would be allowed to stop the reason why they had invested so much ti and effort in this attack!
As far as the Diyasts were concerned, the Larkinsons were just extensions of the Purnesse Family. Anyone and anything that dared to stand in their way of completing their revenge had to be eliminated!
The aerial battle began with a furious exchange of fire. The Larkinsons mostly employed energy rifles while the Diyasts continued to favor kinetic rifles.
Beams seared through the exteriors of Diyast chs while solid projectiles cratered against the tougher armor of the Bright Warriors.
After the first few volleys, it beca clear that the advantage in numbers allowed the Diyast chs to exert considerable greater pressure at range. The Avatar ranged chs had to invest more effort into dodging incoming attacks or sheltering behind other chs in order to remain operational.
The different weapon types mattered a lot in this battle. Gauss rifles and other physical ranged weapons were heavily limited by the amount of ammunition that the chs were able to carry.
However, as long as their rounds didn't run out, the rifleman chs were able to inflict a formidable amount of damage in a short amount of ti!
Positron rifles and laser rifles packed less punch on average. The beams had a tendency to spread out across the surface of a target and modern chs were quite good at coping with excess heat.
It took ti for the damage dealt by energy rifles to beco telling. This was not a long ti, but in a situation where the enemy possessed a greater punch, the Bright Warriors ard with ranged weapons would definitely be routed if this pattern continued.
[This damn ch model is too slow!] Mavelon complained as his ch got impacted by a gauss round that shattered so of its surface layers. [If I was piloting my old ch, I could have dodged this blow with ease!]
[Stop complaining and shoot these new enemies down! We might actually be defeated by these yokels if the Larkinsons can't get their act together.]
The four MTA ch pilots who took part in this operation endured a lot more pressure due to the changing circumstances. Even if they had the option to eject from their chs, suffering defeat in their first deploynt would beco a huge stain on their records.
Their colleagues back in the Association would never ever take the four seriously again if they knew what happened!
Many other Larkinsons were aware that they had to do sothing special in order to reverse the current trend.
"Vandals!" Commander lkor shouted over the command channel. "Suppress their rifleman chs! Take them out if you can, but don't let them fire at us unopposed!"
"We're already on our way, commander! The enemy light chs are running interference against us but we Vandals will make quick work of them. Just watch!"
The Vandals deployed in the field all piloted the Ferocious Piranha, which many Larkinsons considered one of the best ch models of the Larkinson Clan.
In their initial confrontation against their Diyast counterparts, the orange-and-grey chs actually exhibited a slight but crucial edge in speed and acceleration.
The enemy light chs were faster!
Yet when the range between the two groups of swift chs decreased, the Flagrant Vandals actually gained the advantage!
Their hateful glows forced every enemy ch pilot to alternate between feeling abnormally calm to getting engulfed by overpowering fury.
Getting subjected to one of these glows was already bad enough, but the rapid switch between the two threatened to drive the ch pilots crazy!
Though the Diyast ch pilots were not weak by any ans, the constant pressure exerted onto their minds imposed a significant handicap on their performance.
It was as if they were forced to waltz while their feet were stepping on heated coals! Who could possibly maintain a completely even cadence under those conditions?
The furious, high-speed dogfight that ensued resulted in rapid strikes and rapid takedowns.
Soon enough, the Diyast light ch specialists realized that they suffered from another disadvantage.
"Hah!" A vandal ch pilot laughed. "It takes more than that to drive your knife through my armor plating!"
The armor system of the Ferocious Piranha model was substantially better than that of the opposition.
It was extrely expensive to mount quality armor onto chs that had to be as light as possible. Yet Ves was willing to invest more than most people spent on light chs to ensure that his Ferocious Piranhas would not fall apart so quickly.
This was one of the reasons why the Ferocious Piranhas managed to fell more Diyast light chs while their opponents failed to perform as brilliantly. The Ferocious Piranhas were much more suited for dogfighting than the opposing chs!
After dozens of chs started to fall from the sky, the Flagrant Vandal ch pilots began to show their difference in another way.
While the enemy ch pilots were certainly skilled and were capable of executing nurous standard tactics, their lack of foundation soon beca evident.
The ch pilots employed by the Diyast Family did not possess much of an identity! They rely passed the required classes of the ch academies they attended before going through another round of standard training when they were taken in by the Diyasts.
Yet the fallen family was not able to grant anything extra to their ch pilots. Ernesto Diyast and his fellow survivors had lost too much in the initial collapse of their family.
The martial tradition and the strong and distinctive identity of their household troops was completely lost! This ant that the ch pilots all had to start from scratch.
This made a considerable difference on the battlefield. The Diyast light ch pilots fought while employing standard tactics and formations.
Against normal opponents, this was already sufficient, but against the Flagrant Vandals which possessed a military heritage and counted a lot of experienced veterans in their ranks, the Ferocious Piranhas under their control easily isolated and ganged up against pockets of enemy machines.
"Damn! They're starting to split and run!"
Seeing that the situation was rapidly becoming more unsustainable, the commander of the Diyast light chs ordered his n to avoid direct confrontations.
The enemy light chs all pulled back and spread out in different directions. They utilized their superior mobility to outrun the slightly slower Ferocious Piranhas and taunt them along the way. So of the retreating light chs even pulled out light-weight pistols or other ranged weapons in order to harass the Vandal chs.
When lkor briefly paused between his shots to take stock of the overall situation, his lips curled into a smile.
"You can play hide and seek all you want, but that leaves us free to confront other opponents!"
A portion of the Ferocious Piranhas continued to chase after the fleeing Diyast light chs. Their goal was not necessarily to eliminate the mobile machines. It was already enough for them to keep the enemy machines occupied.
What was even more crucial was that the remaining Ferocious Piranhas flew in the other direction and dove straight towards the ranks of enemy ranged chs!
The rifleman chs ard with gauss rifles were suddenly faced with a crisis as nurous Ferocious Piranhas flew past their sides and occasionally swooped in to drive their daggers through their fragile fras!
Fortunately, the Diyasts assigned nurous escort chs to cover their backs. The knight chs and other lee chs did their best to fend off the swooping Ferocious Piranhas and deter them from getting too close.
However, this was already enough for the Flagrant Vandals. The Larkinson Clan clearly recognized that the Ferocious Piranhas did not need to risk themselves to take out their current targets.
As long as they kept making threatening movents while making sure their glows affected the enemy ch pilots, the Diyast ranged ch pilots would not be able to fire their weapons against the Avatar chs as comfortably as before!
What was even better was that the need to protect the ranged chs from getting cut to pieces forced a considerable amount of Diyast lee chs to remain stuck in protection duty!
The fact that these lee chs were unable to join the main clash further ahead ant that the numbers difference beca a lot more tolerable for the Avatar ch pilots.
When the numbers beca a bit more even, the performance of the Avatars finally began to stand out from the norm.
"Avatars! Let's show our clan what we can do. Invoke the Golden Cat!" A ch captain commanded.
The ch pilots he commanded simultaneously clutched a pendant that hung over their piloting suits.
These little pendants were shaped in the form of a golden cat head! While they weren't totems because Ves didn't fabricate them in person, the pendants didn't have to be alive in order for them to serve their purpose.
The Avatar ch pilots used them as a focus for their thoughts and ditations.
Right now, they were doing their best to concentrate their minds and plead towards a spirit that represented the heart and soul of the Larkinson Clan.
Back on the bridge of the Spirit of Bentheim, Ves briefly frowned and turned towards his bodyguard.
The Larkinson Mandate carried by Nitaa fluctuated for a mont.
The Golden Cat received the earnest pleas of the Avatar ch pilots in the field. After a mont of thought, she decided to answer their calls!
Nyaaaaaaaaa!
Through the vigorous and growing Larkinson Network, the nexus began to exude a lot of her energy through a number of specific bonds.
Every Avatar ch pilot that was clutching their pendants felt an invisible spurt of energy flowing through their bodies and minds. Even their chs beca more alive as they too received a boost from the generous cat!
Though the Bright Warriors did not look any different from the outside, the mont they surged forward and clashed against the enemy chs, the skill and fighting spirit of the Avatars had spiked!
"Agghh!"
"I'm going down!"
"We can't stop these golden chs!"
The ch company that had received the blessing of the Golden Cat achieved imdiate local superiority. No enemy ch managed to last more than ten exchanges of blows.
Not only did the Avatar ch pilots employ greater skill and accurate judgent, they also fought as if they could always count on their comrades besides them! Their vastly-improved teamwork prevented many of them from falling!
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