Though the power of individuality was strong, it was not unlimited. Jannzi and her Shield of Samar may have managed to shield the Larkinsons trapped inside the anomaly from a lot of dangers, but it wasn't enough to bring them out!
"The abyss is hungry." James quietly remarked to Ves as the latter was still preoccupied with his latest realization. "When you cross past the event horizon of a black hole, you have reached the point of no return. No matter how much you try to travel out of the hungry maw at the center, the extreme gravitational curving has grown to such a point that not even light can make it out. Unless we can surpass this light, there is no possibility of escaping this trap!"
Ves threw a skeptical look at him. "Since you opted to stay on my ship, does that mean you have foreseen our eventual victory?"
"Not at all." James shook his head. "I am blinded, remember? I merely believe in your ability and the ability of our clan. No specific proof or prediction has guided my decision to bet on you. I'm not alone in this. Many other Larkinsons are also willing to put complete trust in you. This is the true meaning of faith, patriarch."
Faith! Ves hated that word! To him, it described an awful pattern of behavior where people switched off the logical parts of their brain, thereby causing them to develop a irrational belief in something no matter if it was right or wrong!
While Ves personally thought that it was always a good choice for people to put their trust in him, he preferred to do so honestly.
As far as he was concerned, the Larkinsons followed him and supported him as the leader of their clan due to the unspoken contract he formed with them. Through the mutual exchange of interests, both Ves and his clansmen benefited considerably from their cooperation.
This was one of the underlying motivations behind venturing into the Nyxian Gap. It was in his best interests to train his mech forces through the crucible of combat. The clansmen themselves were attracted by gains as well. Not only would they be able to strengthen themselves, Ves had also promised them a massive reward once they returned to civilized space!
The problem was that suffering too many losses might destabilize his contract with his clansmen. How could the latter possibly benefit from having Ves as their leader when he just drove the majority of their mech pilots to their deaths?
No Larkinson would harvest any benefits when they died!
This was why he constantly worried about the outcome of this battle. Roughly half of the Larkinson mech pilots that took part in the attack had already died or disappeared. This was the maximum amount of losses that the clan was able to tolerate. If he lost a hundred more Larkinson mech pilots, then it became questionable whether he would be allowed to cling to his current authority!
Yet with faith, those rules went out the window. Ves noticed from the behavior of many fanatics that they were more than willing to die in order to advance some abstract cause!
Even when the cult leaders openly exploited their sheep, the latter gladly gave up everything due to the faith instilled into them. Such behavior seemed completely stupid to Ves!
While Ves was mulling over faith, the battle outside became more and more strenuous. Despite the efforts of Joshua, Orfan and Dise, the powerful grey mechs still appeared at a faster rate.
Despite the huge amount of effort required to sustain the anomaly, it showed no signs of receding at all. Instead, it continued to strengthen up until the point another mutation occurred.
The grey mechs were merging together!
Instead of mindlessly charging at the Larkinson mechs as soon as the darkness spawned them into existence, they instead crashed against each other. The grey fog that made up their corporeal forms seamlessly blended into each other.
When more than a dozen ghost mechs fused into each other, the resulting mass of grey boiled and convulsed. This process went on for a decent amount of time.
Worried at what might result from this new process, some of the ranged mechs started shooting it, only for all of their laser beams and projectiles to go through the boiling grey mass as if it was nothing but fog!
"Something is coming out!"
The fusion process finally ended, and every Larkinson observing the result shook in fear.
A huge supermech came into existence! Adhering to no proper design principle, the huge grey abomination combined the mass as well as the limbs and weapons of all of the grey mechs that had sacrificed themselves to produce this abomination.
Ves visibly winced at the sight of such an awful mech!
Nonetheless, no matter how ugly it looked, the moment this abominable mech began to fight, it immediately demonstrated its strength by smashing apart a group of four unsuspecting mechs!
"Damnit, its strength has increased! Don't let your mech get hit!"
Each limb was capable of outputting the combined force of multiple mechs!
As attacks landed on its grey surface, many laser beams and projectiles bounced off as if they struck a second-class mech.
"This mech's durability is as strong as multiple mechs as well!"
What was even more frightening was the warped ranged weapons wielded by one of the abomination's multiple limbs. Each shot either tore apart a Larkinson mech or inflicted heavy damage to them. Even the Bright Warriors began to exhibit some damage as their Breyer alloy armor plating no longer turned them impervious.
"It's heading to the Scarlet Rose!"
"Stop it! Don't let it reach our ship! Our clan patriarch and hundreds of rescued mech pilots are inside!"
"Watch out! Another bunch of grey mechs are merging together! Shoot them down before they collide against each other!"
As the crisis facing the Scarlet Rose and every functional Larkinson mech left inside slowly began to overwhelm the surviving Larkinsons, the situation inside Ulimo Citadel had momentarily entered a period of calm.
After Qwasma Ineron introduced herself to Ketis and her band, the pirate defector brought the Larkinsons to a large passenger shuttle.
Around sixty Xona Stalkers armed and armored with a variety of gear greeted the newcomers.
The sight of so many fighting forces that were ostensibly on the side of the Larkinsons relieved Ketis.
At this moment, she had largely expended her strength. The integrity of her Rising Red Dragon suit had dropped and she hardly had any energy left to employ her superpower again.
Lucky was in an even worse state. His heavily-damaged Misfortune Harness hardly offered any advantages and his heavily-damaged surface prevented him from using all of the abilities that made him so tricky and elusive.
As for the remaining Mirror Raiders, they were still in reasonable shape to fight, but only because those who failed to measure up had already died in the firefight against the Hydra Battalion!
If the two could rely on the Xona Stalkers to fight the remaining battles, then that would be best!
As soon as the large passenger shuttle took in the Larkinsons, one of the Xona Stalker specialists transmitted a secret code that caused the floor that was supposed to hold the shrine to retract to the sides.
A large, square tunnel that led straight below came into view. The passenger shuttle briskly flew through the opening and began to navigate the surprisingly expansive tunnel complex built underneath the public marketplace.
In the meantime, grey ghosts continued to form around them, but because the shuttle was constantly moving, those ghosts were immediately left far behind.
"We'll soon be arriving at the site of the nutrient processing plant." Lieutenant Ineron told Ketis. "The shrine had dropped into the heart of the plant. There are signs of some defenses, but not as heavily as we feared. With the troops we have currently gathered, we should be able to overrun the plant."
"Meow.."
Lucky squirmed on Ketis' armored lap as she gently tore off some of the useless parts of the Misfortune Harness from his body.
"Will you Xona Stalkers really go against the Dry Snakes?"
"Only a part of us will, but that is enough." Qwasma ruefully smiled. "We never wanted to live a damned and forsaken life. While it is possible for us to fake our identities and return to civilized space with our expertise, we cannot accept abandoning our original identities. Each of us want to return to the families we have left behind in Majestic Teal and reunite with them without fear of bringing dishonor to them. We are willing to do much to gain this chance."
"I see."
Personally, Ketis possessed a different view of pirate life. While there were many pirates who lived awful lives, civilized space wasn't so different in that regard.
What she truly valued was the freedom she enjoyed in the frontier. Venturing through the Nyxian Gap reminded her of the freedoms she surrendered when she gained a new identity.
When the shuttle arrived at the perimeter of the nutrient processing plant, other groups of Xona Stalkers were already engaged in fighting the Dry Snakes assigned to defend it. The sudden arrival of reinforcements emboldened the attackers!
"Traitors!" A Dry Snake captain yelled over the sounds weapon discharges. "We'll gut you all once we have gotten rid of the Larkinsons. The Grand Protector will never let you live!"
The defecting Xona Stalker fighters didn't respond. They had already made their choice.
Ketis and Lucky stayed out the fighting. They saw how the Xona Stalkers proficiently dismantled the defenses by employing stealthed saboteurs. The defectors also sabotaged some of the large machines around them in order to prevent the shrine from moving away.
The Xona Stalker defectors knew that if they wished to make it out and return to civilized space, they needed to end the crisis besetting the Larkinson Clan!
After losing a third of their lives, the defecting fighting troops finally managed to overwhelm the defenders. While the remainder of the Dry Snake soldiers retreated inwards, their disorganization allowed the Xona Stalkers to easily hunt down the stragglers.
"Let's head inside." Lieutenant Qwasma told Ketis. "This plant was never built to repel an assault. The Dry Snakes haven't posted a lot of guards here either. It is just supposed to be a place to produce some food, after all. With the communications blockade, the rest of our enemy probably isn't aware of the true importance of this site."
Under the lead of the lieutenant, they slowly strode through the main entrance. They passed by some administrative departments before entering the industrial chemical and nutrient processing areas.
Large tubes and small tubes sn.a.k.e.d over everyone's heads. Water, ingredients and waste material continued to flow through them as the largely-automated plant still ran by itself. The pirates had already shoved the plant workers into a room and locked them all inside.
Occasional sounds of fighting echoed through the tunnel-filled halls and corridors as internal defenses as well as the remnants of their opponents put up a last stand.
Strangely enough, the ghost pirates no longer appeared. The darkness and all of the strange phenomena that accompanied it may have intensified a bit as the attackers drew closer, but no more hostile apparitions emerged after passing a certain point.
"Don't let down your guard. The cultists might be gathering them all up before unleashing them at once."
Eventually, the small group reached a center hall where a large, high-vaulted shrine rested in the center of the processing plant.
Pipes disgorged water and brown sludge into large large tanks. Dry powder dropped from a pipe in the ceiling and spread into one of the tanks. Some waste material got separated from another process and flowed away.
Large packaging machines took in portions of dried nutrient matter and enveloped them in disposable wrapping before shoveling them inside containers to be taken elsewhere!
A growing group of Xona Stalkers gathered to make their final assault.
Yet before they managed to do so, the gates of the shrine suddenly slid open on their own. The entrance resembled a hungry maw.
