Chapter 6006 Ultimate Power
The sparring session was about to enter a new phase.
Saint Tusa Billingsley-Larkinson already proved that he could avoid the attacks and overcome the linked energy shields of the RA mech 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 mechs tended to carry a huge amount of weapon modules and other nifty features in their mech frames.
All of these additions continually increased the mass and volume of the mechs to the point where they had to be sized a little bigger than second-class mechs to accommodate all of their gadgets.
That did not necessarily mean that they were slow. Every top-tier first-class multipurpose mech of the Hyper Generation came 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 meant 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 mechs only made moderate attempts at increasing their agility and short-distance maneuverability.
Ves understood the logic behind the decision. The first-class multipurpose mechs 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 mechs while hauling all of that baggage!
In comparison, the Dark Zephyr's only means of attack was a pair of lightweight stormblade knives and a small Ultimate Module.
This was why the Dark Zephyr dominated the maneuvering game to such an extent!
The expert light skirmisher should have struggled to evade the attacks of the RA mech squad a lot more if Tusa was still an expert pilot.
His ascension to ace pilot completely changed the game. 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 mechers could move quickly enough to strike the Dark Zephyr up close or at a distance!
This was why the first-class multipurpose mechs did not even attempt to win the maneuvering game.
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 mech pilots encountered stronger attacks in the past. Their mechs should be able to fend off the expert light skirmisher for at least a short amount of time.
The use of shotguns, flamethrowers, 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 time!
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 archemech 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 mech.
The only feature that excited him now was the Dark Zephyr's exclusive Ultimate Module.
"Blackwing, give me a hand!"
"Chip chip!"
In tandem with Tusa's breakthrough, his companion spirit also became a lot more powerful!
This caused them to be a lot more vulnerable to the weakening effect of Dark Wind Passage.
As four powerful RA mechs lost much of their combat power, the remaining RA mech 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 camel's back!
Unless they received additional reinforcements, there was very little point in continuing this bout.
The mech pilots weren't stupid. They recognized that the Dark Zephyr could have reaped their lives if the newly upgraded machine aimed his Dark Wind Passage directly through the cockpits of their mechs.
Tusa instead opted to follow a trajectory that allowed the Dark Zephyr to damage the more peripheral components of the first-class multipurpose mechs.
While this may have allowed the RA mech 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 mech to date?
They still wouldn't be able to restrain the Dark Zephyr until they brought additional mech squads, particularly ones that excelled at enhancing friendly mechs while debilitating enemy ones!
"Our mechs are not configured to counter an ultra-maneuverable high-ranking mech. We... never stood a chance."
Saint Tusa clearly sensed the shift in morale, so he purposely slowed down his expert mech 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 mech 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 come 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 time to slip the Red Two's leash and run away if he wished!
"This is real progress."
Ves did not feel secure enough. The emergence 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 mechs 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 time, and already he had become obsolete!
Even if the Dark Zephyr had been designed with an ace mech upgrade in mind, Ves still did not look forward to puzzling out the logistical issues of this necessary process.
As Ves returned to the mech workshop so that he could conduct a very thorough inspection of the willpower-baptized archemech, he suddenly halted in the air as he came 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 me Professor Gloriana soon!"
"That... that is great news!"