While Ketis became embroiled in a duel against Captain Wenter of the Hydra Battalion, the situation outside Ulimo Citadel became more dire for the Larkinson Clan!
The situation seemed hopeful at first. Through channeling Lufa's glow, Ves managed to save a lot of stranded and isolated Living Sentinel mechs.
It wasn't easy to maintain such a powerful field that caused the surrounding darkness to recede. Ves went through his partially-charged P-stone so quickly that he had to order Nitaa to stop by the vault and bring out all of the other P-stones that contained some of his spare energy.
He was draining months of diligent energy savings in a matter of minutes! Projecting and amplifying a design spirit's glow so that it could encompass a large volume of space demanded a huge amount of energy.
This was the price of using an ability that was beyond his and Lufa's strength. Unlike the cultists of the Hallowed Abyss Temple, Ves didn't know how to fuel his abilities through human sacrifice.
Perhaps this was for the better, though a part of him still felt a bit jealous at the Grey Watcher in Ulimo for being taught such a useful trick.
When he and his escorts managed to retrieve hundreds of surviving Living Sentinel mech pilots from their damaged and depleted mechs, the situation in the dark sphere abruptly changed.
The entire anomaly began to convulse before channeling more power than before! It was as if it had surpassed some kind of threshold that caused it to take on a greater form!
The darkness exhibited even more activity as the pressure on everyone's minds increased even further. The glows of every LMC mech went from faint to nonexistent as the spiritual suppression from the dark sphere received a substantial boost.
"Ah! Tighten the formation of our mechs! Quickly!" Ves warned.
The tranquility field he channeled contracted by at least a third! The active mechs that protected the Scarlet Rose lost a lot of room for maneuver as a consequence.
"We have to leave, sir!" A bridge officer advised.
"Not yet!" Ves gritted his teeth. "We still have enough energy to collect more mech pilots. Head to the last-known position to the Battle Criers. They shouldn't be able to last much longer than the Living Sentinels!"
The change in circ.u.mstances did not just increase the oppressive power of the surrounding darkness.
The ghost mechs that mindlessly assaulted the Larkinson mechs also changed!
The greyish mechs bred by the dark fog looked more substantial than before. When these mechs began to confront the escorts of the Scarlet Rose, the defending Larkinson mech pilots discovered to their astonishment that the ghost mechs were just as threatening as actual mechs!
"Careful! These ghost mechs are a lot more powerful than before!"
Their forms became a lot more tangible than before. Everyone recognized the increased danger of this adverse change.
"Hurry up! Our comrades won't be able to last if they're assaulted by too many of these new ghost mechs!"
Fortunately, the Battle Criers stranded in the dark sphere numbered much less and maintained a tighter formation.
Many of the Battle Crier mechs that had fallen already succ.u.mbed much earlier. The ones who managed to cling on until now possessed rich battle experience.
Even so, the Larkinsons only managed to retrieve half of the Battle Criers that took part in the attack against Ulimo Citadel!
The Living Sentinels also lost half of their numbers. This was the most painful loss the clan had suffered since the Battle of Kesseling VIII. Pain and frustration marred Ves' face, but he knew that the crisis wasn't over yet. He still hadn't rescued the Avatars, Vandals and Swordmaidens.
Though he wanted to retrieve them as well, time was running out. He had expended so much energy that he was down to his last P-stone. Once this rock ran out of spiritual energy, Ves would be forced to drain his mind until he completely ran dry.
While the intensified crisis increased the pressure on everyone trapped in the anomaly, Ketis still hadn't managed to get past the pirate blademaster blocking her way!
Only a short time had passed as they only exchanged a couple of blows. Nonetheless, Ketis already learned the hard way that Captain Wenter was stronger than her in almost every way!
His combat armor was bigger and taller than hers. Though that ordinarily should have made his movements slower, the servos and artificial musculature of his powered limbs were actually able to leverage more power than her Rising Red Dragon suit!
It couldn't be helped. Her high-quality combat armor was designed to accommodate heavy rifles and other ranged weapons.
Enhancing its ability to wield melee weapons was only a secondary priority to its original designer! Though the Rising Red Dragon suit was considerably better off in this area due to its expensive price tag, it was still inferior to Captain Wenter's custom-designed combat armor that was precisely tailored for his physique and fighting style!
With an energised scimitar that could cut through Breyer alloy and a battle-tested fighting style that mixed superior technique with dirty tricks, Ketis found no opportunity to counterattack!
She was forced to hold her cutlass with two arms in order to withstand the force of Captain Wenter's more powerful blows. Sometimes he fainted, putting considerably less power in his attacks.
Caught off-guard, Ketis responded a bit too slowly as Captain Wenter sliced the brightened edge of his scimitar across her already-damaged arm section!
At the last instant, she forced her Rising Red Dragon to turn, causing the empowered scimitar to tear through the upper layer of her plating!
Due to her move, her footing became unstable, which Captain Wenter eagerly took advantage of. His combat armor design featured considerably more range of movement for his legs, which he eagerly used to snap another kick against her foe!
Fortunately, Ketis possessed just enough experience to accept the kick. She used the force to perform an ungainly roll before regaining her footing just in time to block another heavy scimitar blow!
"I've taken your measure, lass!" Captain Wenter's helmeted form voiced. "Your technique is not half-bad, but mine is better!"
Both of them recognized the disparity in skill as they exchanged a couple more blows. The Hydra captain that insisted on dueling Ketis had training to fight with a scimitar for decades!
As for Ketis, her preferred weapon was a two-handed greatsword. This was because the Swordmaidens mainly oriented their swordsmanship towards slaying huge and tough adversaries such as exobeasts.
The fighting style of the Swordmaidens not only allowed them to duel powerful exobeasts who massed twenty times their own bodies, but also remained relevant in mech combat.
The Swordmaidens excelled in cutting weaker mechs in half with a single blow! Their killing efficiency against weaker mechs was unparalleled, while tougher opponents also experienced a lot of threat!
However, the downsides of the Swordmaiden fighting style became evident through this duel. Compared to other swordsmanship traditions, the Swordmaidens placed much less emphasis on finesse.
While they often sparred against each other and honed their moves and countermoves against other sword-wielding opponents, the essence of their swordsmanship style always revolved around overpowering their enemies.
A part of the reason why the Swordmaidens chose this brutish way over sword fighting was due to their deficient training environment. Focusing on simple, powerful moves demanded less acute judgement, fine body control and advanced training methods.
This was not necessarily enough to put her on the backfoot. With a large and massive enough greatsword, Ketis still would have been able to overcome her opponent's superior technique through sheer force.
The problem now was that her cutlass did not conform to the sword type that she fought best with. It was shorter and considerably lighter and possessed many other characteristics that prevented her from employing the moves she needed to reverse the trend.
These differences might not be important against ordinary opponents, but were influential enough to put her at a heavy disadvantage!
Captain Wenter was able to utilize his more focused training and his other advantages to maintain superiority throughout the duel.
He resolutely gave no chance for Ketis to turn the tables against him! If not for the fact that Captain Wenter wasn't able to channel his scimitar at full power for a long time, her Rising Red Dragon suit would have been breached at this time!
It frustrated her enormously to be forced on the defensive. Time was running out and while her fellow Mirror Raiders were putting at least some pressure on the Hydra Battalion soldiers bent on killing Lucky, the elite pirates weren't easy foes!
If Ketis couldn't find a way to break this deadlock, then Lucky might actually die in this cursed pirate base!
She had no other choice. She needed to use her trump card. The only reason why she felt reluctant to do so was that she couldn't make this move too often and that Captain Wenter was skilled enough to circ.u.mvent it if he knew what she was capable of doing.
"Clang!"
The energized scimitar hit the flat of her cutlass blade again, leaving behind another scar and diminishing the durability of the weapon even further.
After blocking three more attacks, the back of her armor suddenly collided against a wall.
Captain Wenter saw a chance and performed another feint before slashing his energised scimitar against the neck collar of her opponent! The brightness of his weapon's edge abruptly rose higher than ever before, signifying that his next attack might be powerful enough to cut through all of the layers of armor that protected Ketis' neck!
The break in pattern astonished Ketis for a moment. The Hydra captain constantly aimed to cut off her arm in his previous attacks. Targeting her neck all of a sudden genuinely caught her off-guard!
Even so, she did not stop from making her own move. She concentrated her mind and actively sought to lean on Sharpie.
"Please lend me your strength!"
Her sentient mind sword had always supported Ketis as she fought through the pirates. With each enemy she slayed, Sharpie grew more and more active. It was as if the act of killing with swords slowly evolved the living spiritual construct in a certain direction!
Sharpie answered her call. It resonated with her mind and began to boost her effort to augment her blade.
A different glow covered the edge of her cutlass. Captain Wenter only had moments to widen his eyes as Ketis used the sharp side of her sword to parry his supercharged scimitar!
"Foolish! When I overloaded my prized weapon, not even second-class armor plating can block it from cutting through!"
A bright line seemed to have cut through air and metal.
Captain Wenter only had moments to realize that the simple cutlass wielded by his opponent managed to slice straight through his fully energized scimitar with unnatural ease. Not only that, but the partially-glowing cutlass continued on to hack into the shoulder plating of his combat armor before slicing off his arm and shoulder, armor included!
The powerful attack enhanced by Sharpie took a lot out of Ketis. She became incredibly tired and momentarily lacked the strength to attack her dueling opponent again.
"Impossible!" The Hydra captain spoke with astonishment.
The catastrophic injury he suffered was beyond his combat armor's means to patch up. Blood spurted from the cut sections of his flesh as his damaged armor collapsed on the ground.
"How.. did I lose?"
Ketis wearily grinned as she caught her breath. "You are better than me in any way except for one area."
"And what.. is that?"
"You lacked a sword intent."
"I see…" Captain Wenter's eyes glazed over. "I did not die unjustly. As one duelist to another, I… I am proud to die under your blade. Take your trophy from me.. so that I will be remembered…"
This formidable pirate elite and one of the most powerful melee duelists in Ulimo Citadel perished.
Ketis soon managed to regain enough energy to proceed forward. Before she did so, she grabbed Captain Wenter's broken scimitar and gripped it with her other hand.
"I'm coming, Lucky!"
