The battle between the Allidus Alliance and the Larkinson Clan began as a struggle between humans.
Through the use of great and powerful mechs and starships, they clashed against each other with the weapons familiar to any human.
Yet from the moment that Ves flipped the board, the battle quickly morphed into a battle that no longer had any place for mortals.
Through several means, the Larkinson Clan called down powerful, titanic energy projections that were so powerful and unfathomable that they appeared to be no different from gods!
The design spirit of the Aurora Titans roared with rage as her space barrier shielded the intact remnants of the Larkinson fleet from the pressure emanated by her enemy counterparts.
The Larkinsons and Penitent Sisters had lost almost fifty ships from the massive guns of the Gravada Knarlax and escorts. Though this had led to an enormous loss of materials, prompt evacuation had allowed much of their crews to escape alive.
Now, these vulnerable people crammed into the ships that remained intact and huddled behind the shield of the lizard-like god that hovered behind the valiant Shield of Samar.
With Venerable Jannzi doing her utmost to protect her family, no one gave in to despair!
Further ahead, three more extraordinary entities appeared to be fighting on behalf of the Larkinson Clan.
The Swordmaiden mechs numbered less than forty, but the one-sided destruction the women inflicted on the Allidus Archons was completely out of proportion!
Commander Dise’s breakthrough to expert pilot certainly helped, but she could have never destroyed over five-hundred elite pirate mechs by herself if not for the favorable circumstances empowering her will.
First, the convergence of the imaginary and the material powered her up beyond what was usual.
Second, her bond with Qilanxo had provided her with a powerful boost, especially since she finally found a reason to fight that was compatible with the sacred god’s ideals.
Third, her living sword intent actively concentrated her will, thereby putting her ahead of other newly-advanced expert pilots.
Fourth, her living sword intent also functioned as a battle network. After the connections became active, her strong will flowed into her subordinates!
The sword projection that superimposed itself onto the battle formation of the Swordmaidens seemed unimaginably real. I was a sword that completely surpassed anything that could have existed for real. Though it was for all intents and purposes an illusion, when the imaginary and the material became intertwined, even illusions could cut mechs in half!
“OUR SWORD IS UNBREAKABLE!”
“OUR SWORD IS THE SHARPEST!”
“OUR SWORD IS ETERNAL!”
While the Swordmaidens were backed by a giant greatsword manifested from Commander Dise’s force of will, the Penitent Sisters enjoyed the support of an even greater entity!
The Superior Mother had seemingly come to life and descended over the mechs piloted by the former cultist Hexers.
Though they had left the Hegemony in disgrace, not a single shred of shame or defeat graced the excited faces of the Hexer mech pilots!
Despite grossly outnumbering the Penitent Sisters, the mechs piloted by the pirates all flew away in terror. Being besieged by incredibly powerful second-class mechs was a frightening prospect to any Nyxian scum!
While it should have been possible for the pirates to organize themselves and mob the Penitent Sister mechs with overwhelming numbers, the energy projection of the Superior Mother put that plan to rest!
Each time the pirate mechs attempted to group up, the Superior Mother stretched out with her arms and clawed her fingers through the mechs. Each time she did so, the mech pilots inside felt drained as they lost sort of energy!
The appearance of this Hexer ‘god’ completely broke the pirate conscripts. Even the rank and file of the Allidus Alliance quaked in their boots when faced with this Supreme come to life.
How could mere humans like them ever stand a chance against gods? Each time their mechs attacked the Superior Mother, their blows just went right through her projected body!
“We messed with the wrong people! These Larkinsons are crazier than some of the cults back home!”
“Only gods can fight against gods!”
Though the Superior Mother made a very big impression on both sides, she had only come into existence due to the activation of a battle network.
The most real entity that fought on behalf of the Larkinson Clan was no one else than the Golden Cat!
While every Larkinson knew of her, they initially thought that she was just a symbol. Though every clansmen were constantly in touch with her, they mistakenly thought that the cat that adorned their clan emblem was just a cute mascot.
Never did they think that the Golden Cat was truly real and able to manifest into reality in such a dramatic fashion!
Conjured onto the battlefield through Joshua’s exceptionally powerful breakthrough, the complete resonance he achieved with the Quint allowed the Golden Cat act on her desire to fight against the pirates that threatened the lives of her precious Larkinsons!
After wreaking havoc on the forward sections of the heavily-damaged Gravada Knarlax, the Quint and the giant cat looked ready to destroy the most central asset of the Allidus Alliance by themselves!
Yet one single event changed everything.
Deep inside the Gravada Knarlax, a single hidden compartment shook from the damage inflicted on the warship. The compartment was home to a shrine that was more elaborate than at Ulimo Citadel.
Inside, three central statues loomed over a crowd of robes figures. Dozens of White Watchers, half-a-dozen of Grey Watchers and a single Black Watcher presided over an elaborate ceremony.
On the deck, an elaborate ritual circle drawn from blood glowed with an ominous red glow. The strange inhuman markings and lines stretched all across the deck and even crept onto the bulkheads and ceiling!
The Watchers whispered strange alien words as they prostrated over the three obsidian statues.
Each of them depicted a different dark god. Each of them released a mysterious fog that was rich with dark energy. Amplified by the spiritually chaotic environment, the statues released more fog than ever!
Yet despite the intervention of three avatars of the Dark Gods at once, the Larkinson Clan somehow managed to push them back. With the flagship of the Allidus Alliance being preyed upon by a giant cat, Black Watcher Ortis looked unprecedentedly solemn as he received a silent instruction from the dark.
He drew one of his wrinkled hands into the pocket of his robe and drew out an alien ritual dagger. The blade was green and sinuous as it absorbed some of the dark energy flowing out of the compartment.
After reciting an unintelligible invocation, the Black Watcher rose the dagger and stabbed it downwards!
Despite hitting nothing but air, the hearts of every White Watcher and Grey Watcher tending the ritual froze. Shortly afterwards, violent spouts of blood poured out of their chests.
Hole had formed over every cultist’s heart! Through some unknown force, all of the lifeblood that circulated through their bodies forcibly exited their bodies and entered the elaborate ritual circle.
The blood of the Watchers was far more precious than that of random pirate scum. Even though the quantity of blood that entered the ritual circle was not that much, the activity emanating from it had risen substantially!
“Awaken, and show these infidels the might of the abyss!” The Black Watcher cried as he raised his ritual dagger again.
With a dramatic stab, he buried the blade deep within his own chest. After brutally pulling his weapon out, thick black blood that was seeped with foulness joined the ritual circle.
For a moment, nothing happened aside from Black Watcher Ortis’s lifeless body falling onto the deck.
Then, the statues pulsed and glowed as more fog than ever poured out of them! Soon enough, three immense existences squeezed out of the statues and rapidly moved out of the Gravada Knarlax.
Upon arriving at their respective fog projections, the existences merged with them, causing them to manifest in their entirety!
The simultaneous descent of three dark gods exerted more pressure over humans than anyone could withstand. Many pirates lost consciousness as they were unable to cope with the raw power radiating from the three immensely powerful entities.
Some Larkinsons fell unconscious as well, but the protection offered by Venerable Jannzi, Qilanxo, Goldie and the battle networks prevented the rest from following suit.
Even so, the pressure from the dark gods was so great that hardly any normal mech pilot could even think about fighting against gods that had practically showed up in the flesh.
A dark fog emanated from the near-physical body of the Unending One. Nyxie, the enraged alien tyrant, kept attacking the tentacled whale with savage punches and brutal energy attacks as if all thought of restraint had disappeared!
Yet the Unending One that Nyxie beat up before was not the same anymore. The tentacles on the Unending One not only blocked his opponent’s attacks with ease, but also entangled the limbs, thereby immobilizing the maddened entity!
With one huge bite, the Unending One opened his enormous maw and bit off half of Nyxie’s energy body!
A pained, inaudible roar escaped Nyxie’s form as the remnant of his existence quickly cut itself off from the trapped limbs and shifted several kilometers backwards before reforming into a considerably smaller and weaker energy body.
All of his rage and fury had drained from his unstable consciousness. A chillingly cold fear had descended upon Nyxie.
The strength of a dark god in his prime and a long-imprisoned alien entity was not comparable at all! This was especially after Ves continually cut off chunks of spirits and inflicted a lot of wounds earlier.
Now that the Unending One had engulfed half of his spirit, Nyxie was in no shape to fight any further! Without a hint of shame, the wounded entity desperately attempted to flee, only for the Unending One’s tentacles to stretch out once again to catch the cowardly spirit.
Roars of unwillingness escaped from Nyxie as the tentacles slowly but steadily dragged him to a waiting maw!
With one decisive bite, an eons-old spiritual entity disappeared into the Unending One’s stomach!
Across the Komodo Star Sector and beyond, millions of Doom Guards abruptly lost much of their fearsome potency as their glows had suddenly become a lot more stable!
The mutual interaction between Zeigra and Nyxie ceased to exist because the latter was no longer alive!
Complaints abruptly flooded the offices of the Living Mech Corporation. The sudden and unexpected failure of the Doom Guard model produced an unprecedented huge scandal for the LMC. If any of its products failed like this again, then why should mech pilots entrust their lives to the apparently-unreliable mechs.
Ves, who helplessly witnessed the ignoble death of one of the LMC’s most important design spirits. He knew exactly how bad the consequences would be if Nyxie’s death robbed one of the LMC’s bestselling mech models of its pillars.
If there was one relief, it was that the spiritual products he created from Nyxie’s spiritual fragments were still alive and well. Yet that did not change the fact that the sudden death of the hostile entity would surely impact his reputation!
Fortunately, he already prepared some contingency plans. He never assumed that he could use Nyxie as a design spirit forever.
He quickly inserted a substitute design spirit in the vacated space of the Doom Guard. After contemplating a few options, he selected Lufa to take Nyxie’s place.
The Angel of Tranquility may be young, but he had already reached a respectable amount of strength due to the circumstances of his birth. Not only that, but his peaceful mindset completely rubbed the aggressive Zeigra the wrong way.
The two hostile spirits instantly began to fight, causing the Doom Guard’s glow to regain its strength in a different form!
Ves had no time to inspect the Doom Guard’s changes. After establishing a sloppy equilibrium in the mech design, he drew himself back and tracked what the two other dark gods were doing.
“Not good! Venerable Tusa and Venerable Orfan are in trouble!”
