The sparring session was about to enter a new phase.
Saint Tusa Billingsley-Larkinson already proved that he could avoid the attacks and overco the linked energy shields of the RA ch squad.
With 3 of their number down and out of the fight, the remaining 9 machines had much less of a chance to rely on their numbers advantage to take down a powerful machine that they could not pin down!
Ves chuckled at the sight. This bout was an illuminating experience for him. First-class multipurpose chs tended to carry a huge amount of weapon modules and other nifty features in their ch fras.
All of these additions continually increased the mass and volu of the chs to the point where they had to be sized a little bigger than second-class chs to accommodate all of their gadgets.
That did not necessarily an that they were slow. Every top-tier first-class multipurpose ch of the Hyper Generation ca equipped with potent hyper power reactors and high-thrust transphasic hyper flight systems.
The combination of both granted these machines powerful straight-line acceleration capabilities.
This ant that as long as they traversed longer distances in straight or gently curved trajectories, they could theoretically catch up or surpass the Dark Zephyr!
However, whoever designed these first-class multipurpose chs only made moderate attempts at increasing their agility and short-distance maneuverability.
Ves understood the logic behind the decision. The first-class multipurpose chs carried way too many weapon systems and other modules ranging from plasma weapons, positron beam weapons, gravitic weapons, missile launchers, ECM systems and more.
There was no way they could maneuver as fast as light chs while hauling all of that baggage!
In comparison, the Dark Zephyr's only ans of attack was a pair of lightweight stormblade knives and a small Ultimate Module.
This was why the Dark Zephyr dominated the maneuvering ga to such an extent!
The expert light skirmisher should have struggled to evade the attacks of the RA ch squad a lot more if Tusa was still an expert pilot.
His ascension to ace pilot completely changed the ga. His skill increased too much and his Saint Kingdom amplified the performance of his Dark Zephyr by a much greater extent.
There was no way the chers could move quickly enough to strike the Dark Zephyr up close or at a distance!
This was why the first-class multipurpose chs did not even attempt to win the maneuvering ga.
They instead abided by the most appropriate strategy for them, which was to rely on their formidable defenses and their most appropriate offensive solutions.
The Dark Zephyr's knife attacks were strong, but the RA ch pilots encountered stronger attacks in the past. Their chs should be able to fend off the expert light skirmisher for at least a short amount of ti.
The use of shotguns, flathrowers, high-explosive missiles and other area-of-effect weapons should have been enough to damage fast-moving opponents.
Unfortunately, most of these weapon solutions lost too much of their potency as soon as they entered the Dark Zephyr's Saint Kingdom!
Tusa felt no more threat from his remaining adversaries, so he decided to finish this sparring session on a high note by testing the offensive capabilities of his Dark Wind Module for the first ti!
There were still a number of new and old features of the Dark Zephyr that he had yet to trial.
For example, the Dark Zephyr still retained his old Endless Paths hyper ability that allowed him to produce half-illusionary clones of himself.
The archech also hadn't employed his new Electronic Gremlin System.
Tusa saw little point in trying them out. He was already familiar with the Endless Paths ability, and the Electronic Gremlin System was too low-tech and lacking in sophistication to ever be able to hack the most vulnerable modules of a state-of-the-art first-class multipurpose ch.
The only feature that excited him now was the Dark Zephyr's exclusive Ultimate Module.
"Blackwing, give a hand!"
"Chip chip!"
In tandem with Tusa's breakthrough, his companion spirit also beca a lot more powerful!
Blackwing had gained a domain of his own, allowing him to control and harness shadow energy to a much greater extent.
This hadn't been obvious before as the Dark Zephyr's Saint Kingdom was just so much stronger.
However, as soon as Blackwing entered the Dark Wind Module and began to imbue it with greater shadow energy and true resonance, he was finally beginning to show how much more assistance he could provide in combat!
The avian companion spirit still had a long way to go before he beca as powerful and useful as Emma, but at least he managed to surpass all of the other companion spirits of the Larkinson Clan.
"Mrow!"
Even Blinky grew jealous at Blackwing's impressive leap of strength.
The Star Cat may have the advantage in versatility and long-term potential, but Blackwing's current hard power already carried the shadow of the 'dark gods' that the Larkinsons fought against in the past.
Therefore, when Blackwing began to amplify the Dark Wind Module, so of its paraters began to shoot up by as much as 200 percent!
This was not a surprise to Ves. As an advanced hyper module, this innovative device was designed to scale particularly well with a rise in energy levels.
As Blackwing not only allowed Tusa to resonate stronger with the Dark Wind Module, but also draw in a lot more shadow energy, the Ultimate Module finally reached a potent charged state!
Ves' eyes lit up as he recognized that the Dark Wind Module was able to exert more power due to another variable.
"Ultimate Runes! It has already acquired a handful of Ultimate Runes!"
The principle of an Ultimate Module was that it was supposed to contain a subordinate spirit of the living ch.
Ves ca up with the idea that the Ultimate Module could accumulate its own separate version of Ascension Runes, but all of this had remained theoretical for the ti being.
It was only now that the Dark Wind Module was charging up that he obtained empirical proof that it was truly capable of forming its own Ultimate Runes!
"It must have gained them when Tusa broke through!"
Normally, it should have taken months before the Dark Wind Module naturally ford its first Ultimate Rune, but the current situation had fast-forwarded this process.
Shadows continued to surge towards the Dark Zephyr as the expert ch very obviously radiated a huge amount of threat.
Major Simon Jankowski was barely able to resist the pressure owing to his stronger willpower, but the other chers failed to maintain their full concentration despite their excellent training against such effects.
From their perspectives, the Dark Zephyr had surpassed the definition of a ch and started to turn into a giant shadow monster that was just about to sweep through their chs with a single flap of his wings!
"WATCH OUT!"
An enormous streak of shadow ran through multiple first-class multipurpose chs at once!
The Dark Zephyr had not only burst forward in an instant, but also activated the Dark Wind Passage hyper ability for the first ti.
The results were dramatic as a thick streak of shadow energy ran from the expert ch's starting point all the way to a distant location over two kiloters away!
The trail of shadow energy finally started to fade as the Dark Zephyr slowed down and leisurely turned around.
In the anti, Ves carefully studied the state of the multipurpose chs that got struck by the shadow streak.
The changes did not beco apparent right away, but as the seconds passed by, four chs began to malfunction.
Their limbs froze up. Modules began to lose power. Sensor systems and other delicate components started to crumble and break apart as the shadows had weakened them past their breaking points.
Not everything crumbled into shadows. Much of their tough transphasic armor plating and reinforced components still managed to stay in one piece.
Nonetheless, the lethality of the Dark Wind Passage Ultimate Ability centered around its capacity to directly compromise the weak points of a target!
Armor and other forms of protection failed to block the Ultimate Ability. This was why the affected first-class multipurpose chs all started to lose so many modules at once.
One of the downsides of employing a lot of miniaturized modules was that each of them were not particularly tough!
This caused them to be a lot more vulnerable to the weakening effect of Dark Wind Passage.
As four powerful RA chs lost much of their combat power, the remaining RA ch pilots all lost their remaining battle intent.
They still had hope of eking out a victory or losing this bout in a graceful manner, but the Dark Wind Passage had been the straw that broke the cal's back!
Unless they received additional reinforcents, there was very little point in continuing this bout.
The ch pilots weren't stupid. They recognized that the Dark Zephyr could have reaped their lives if the newly upgraded machine aid his Dark Wind Passage directly through the cockpits of their chs.
Tusa instead opted to follow a trajectory that allowed the Dark Zephyr to damage the more peripheral components of the first-class multipurpose chs.
While this may have allowed the RA ch pilots to preserve their lives, they failed to salvage their pride.
They knew they had lost this battle. Venerable Tusa and his companion spirit was a powerful combination, and the Dark Zephyr was much more powerful than a typical quasi-first-class high-tier expert m,ech!
How could Major Jankowski and his remaining subordinates ever take down Professor Larkinson's most perverse ch to date?
They still wouldn't be able to restrain the Dark Zephyr until they brought additional ch squads, particularly ones that excelled at enhancing friendly chs while debilitating enemy ones!
"Our chs are not configured to counter an ultra-maneuverable high-ranking ch. We… never stood a chance."
Saint Tusa clearly sensed the shift in morale, so he purposely slowed down his expert ch and weakened his Saint Kingdom.
The shadows around the Dark Zephyr began to fade. The machine also sheathed his stormblade knives.
Throughout this short but intense sparring session, the Dark Zephyr did not incur any damage.
Although the Dark Zephyr radiated much less threat than before, nobody could forget how extensively he dominated his adversaries!
"I am done for now." Tusa transmitted in a completely relaxed tone.
The expert ch turned around and flew back to Diandi Base. This signaled the definite end to Tusa and the upgraded Dark Zephyr's bombastic demonstration of power!
Ves was happy beyond belief as he flew back to base as well. The short but highly impactful sparring session told him that one of his dreams had finally co true.
The Larkinson Clan finally gained the power to defend against the Red Two.
Not completely. Far from it. Right now, the Larkinsons could only put up a very modest fight against just a fraction of the enormous military might of the Red Association and the Red Fleet.
Yet that was already enough for Ves to buy ti to slip the Red Two's leash and run away if he wished!
"This is real progress."
Ves did not feel secure enough. The ergence of a single ace pilot may have elevated the Larkinson Clan, but it still had a lot to go before it could enter into the big leagues.
The Larkinsons at least needed to nurture half-a-dozen additional ace pilots and pair them all up with first-class ace chs before they could effectively deter most threats!
That was still too far away for Ves. He first needed to think about arranging yet another upgrade for the Dark Zephyr.
His Mark III incarnation had only existed for a brief amount of ti, and already he had beco obsolete!
Even if the Dark Zephyr had been designed with an ace ch upgrade in mind, Ves still did not look forward to puzzling out the logistical issues of this necessary process.
As Ves returned to the ch workshop so that he could conduct a very thorough inspection of the willpower-baptized archech, he suddenly halted in the air as he ca across a shocking sight.
Gloriana stood in his path while plastering the widest grin across her face.
"Good news, Ves! I managed to break through! I have finally managed to catch up to you! You can call Professor Gloriana soon!"
"That… that is great news!"
User Comments
0 comments from readers