The Mech Touch

Chapter 7570 Familial Bonds

The Dark Apostle found it difficult to admit it, but he could not deny the truth.

He could not defeat the Blackwater Summoner.

If the greater phase lord fought with his true body alone, then the giant leader might have a chance of turning the battle around.

This was because a strong body and excellent phasewater organs alone could not guarantee victory.

The Dark Apostle could still rely on the excellent protection of his Superdimensional Giant Regalia and the deadliness of his Withering Sting to grind down his opponent over time.

Yet the Blackwater Summoner did not fight like the phase whales and phase lords of old. This was a leader who kept up with the times and equipped himself with a Saint Armor that was fully customized for his race!

This Saint Armor not only provided a solid layer of protection, but also made his many tentacles a lot more deadly!

The combination of excellent innate strength and powerful advantages granted by his high-quality equipment effectively turned him into one of the deadlier greater phase lords that the Larkinsons had ever encountered on the battlefield.

Let alone the Dark Apostle, even the Larkinson ace mechs would struggle to gain an advantage against this troublesome opponent.

The alien leader's characteristic blackwater became more and more voluminous on the battlefield.

The greater phase lord evidently possessed such a large resource inside his true body that he could still spit out more of this extremely dangerous substance!

"What is this stuff?!" The Dark Apostle frustratingly asked as he desperately evaded a stream of blackwater that had taken on the shape of a spear! "This blackwater is all wrong! It feels like a perverted version of phasewater!"

Although it possessed many similarities to phasewater, the powerful alien god had clearly altered it in a very deep or profound manner. It felt as if the Blackwater Summoner had corrupted it or contaminated it with a very corrosive form of power.

While Ves and the Dark Apostle were not unfamiliar with dark and corrupting influences, whatever caused the blackwater to become so lethal and deathly against superdimensional alloys remained unclear!

Evidently, the Red Cabal still possessed many powerful secrets and methods of their own!

The Blackwater Summoner seemed to relish in the confusion of his adversaries. The alien practically grinned underneath his large Saint Armor.

"#$&#@&#@@&@."

"NO ONE CAN RESIST MY TORRENT. I AM THE STRONGEST AND MOST ACCOMPLISHED SONS OF THE TIDE CALLER. YOU CANNOT IMAGINE HOW MANY YEARS I HAVE SPENT ON RESEARCHING AND DEVELOPING MY UNIQUE BLACKWATER ORGAN. BEFORE I COMPLETED IT, I WAS MERELY AN ORDINARY GOD. AFTER I HAVE IMPLANTED IT IN MY BODY, I BECAME ONE OF THE MOST OUTSTANDING AMONG THE GODS OF MY GENERATION. THIS IS WHAT I DESERVE, BECAUSE MY BLACKWATER ORGAN IS GROWN FROM THE HOLY FLESH OF MY GREAT FATHER."

"What?!"

"What?!"

Blinky almost spat out a glob of E energy after he heard the enemy's boast.

If the Blackwater Summoner did not speak any falsehoods, then the unreasonable power of his most cherished 'Blackwater Organ' was basically due to the fact that it was derived from the extraordinary tissue of an ancient phase whale!

"That… that's cheating!" Ves accused! "Phase whales are supposed to build up their strength through independent research and verification. Using the flesh of a True God-level phase whale is like stealing the homework of your superior. I wouldn't be surprised if an ancient phase whale is able to create a substance as dangerous as blackwater, but it is absolutely beyond the capabilities of a lesser or greater phase whale. No wonder it is able to corrode superdimensional alloys so easily!"

The Blackwater Summoner broke the rules that governed his race. Phase whales were normally solitary beings. Their familial ties were quite weak. While their reproduction remained murky, their long lifespans meant that they had very little reason to care about their offspring.

Phase whales generally measured each other's worth by looking at the size of their bodies and the quality of their phasewater organs.

Those that thrived among their strange society were often those who possessed the strongest research capabilities. Only the best among them were able to invent new, powerful and unique phasewater organs.

Ves did not possess a thorough understanding of phase whale society, but he believed that many phase whales definitely looked down on what the Blackwater Summoner had done.

"I thought that you were a prominent member of the Red Cabal." He conveyed his suspicion. "However, I no longer believe in that anymore. From what I can gather, you are anything but welcome among your peers. The death of the Tide Caller has caused you to lose your stronger backer. The providence of your blackwater organ is taboo. You have not earned this power. Your former friends and allies must have pushed you out of their circle as a consequence. That is why you are here in this awful star system where you are constantly doing the dirty work of converting corpses of other species into filthy deathborn."

The Blackwater Summoner paused in his flight for a moment.

His armored form began to shake in rage!

"#&%$*&%@!"

"BLASPHEMER! HOW DARE YOU QUESTION MY ACCOMPLISHMENTS! MY BLACKWATER ORGAN IS SO STRONG THAT IT HAS EVOKED JEALOUSLY FROM MY SHORT-MINDED PEERS. THEY DID NOT CAST ME OUT. I LEFT THEIR ON MY OWN ACCORD! THEY ARE TOO SHORT-SIGHTED TO ACKNOWLEDGE MY BRILLIANCE! AS FOR THE DEATHBORN, THEY HAVE BECOME MY NEW FRIENDS. AS REVOLTING AS THESE VISITORS FROM AFAR MAY BE, THEIR POWER IS FAR BEYOND YOUR FEEBLE COMPREHENSION. MY FELLOW PHASE WHALES MAY DESPISE THEM UTTERLY, BUT I AM DIFFERENT!"

While Ves would like to hear more, the Blackwater Summoner no longer spent his time on rambling but instead began to intensify his offensive!

The large amounts of blackwater flowing through space began to resemble black inkstrokes.

They flew nimbly around the Blackwater Summoner and took on many different shapes.

Though the alien's control over this powerful substance gradually turned sluggish as their quantity rose, the sheer amount of it simply made it far too difficult to circumvent its corrosive threat!

No matter how creatively the Dark Apostle moved to attack, he could not find an angle where he could thrust his Withering Sting without touching a blackwater screen.

At the same time, the Blackwater Summoner still had plenty of dark substance to spare for attacks. He created many spears, swords and other shapes before launching them at his humanoid opponent.

The sheer quantity of blackwater constructs frequently forced the giant leader to abandon his attacks and focus completely on evasion!

If not for the fact that the Blackwater Summoner could not let his precious substance move too far away from his true body, the Dark Apostle would have gotten struck a lot more severely by this time!

Even so, the frequent contacts had already burned several concerning holes into his superdimensional raiment.

The Dark Apostle really did not want to allow anything more than a couple of black drops to touch his true body!

This was why he no longer bothered to cling to his pride as an Ascended Giant and readily asked his alter ego for help!

"Are you going to help already, Ves?! My body is going to melt from all of the blackwater quite soon if you don't intervene!"

"I am just about to… now!"

Ves had never seriously completed this operation at this scale. He did not fully know what to expect, but he hoped the outcome would not be too shabby.

The sudden manifestation of E energy spooked the Blackwater Summoner to the point where he made a temporary retreat.

Wary of a trap or other nasty surprise, the giant enemy leader maintained a respectful distance from whatever was happening.

Though the initial shape looked vague, the manifestation soon gained definition with every passing second.

Yet as soon as the humanoid shape gained enough clarity, his appearance immediately generated a short lull in the ongoing battle.

Multiple people who paid attention to this all-important duel grew shocked as they recognized the face of this new entrant.

"Is that… Venerable Imong Ingvar!?"

"What?! The Saint Commander's sister? Isn't he supposed to be dead!?"

"Maybe… death is not an obstacle for the inventor of Carmine mechs."

Almost nobody understood what Ves had just manifested from his System Space.

This was the first time that he had seriously deployed his Chosen Envoy on an actual battlefield.

For many days, the reincarnated spirit of Imon Ingvar kept languishing inside the Sacred Temple atop the mountain.

It couldn't be helped.

When Ves initially obtained this so-called Chosen Envoy, Imon had degenerated into a very weak entity.

He had lost so much strength that he would struggle to defeat a mouse, let alone a lesser phase lord!

However, that was in the past.

Though the Chosen Envoy still had to spend a lot of time to develop the true potential of his second lease on life, he had already experienced enough growth to make himself useful in battle, if only barely!

The Blackwater Summoner's wariness gradually faded as he took stock of this intangible existence.

The alien clearly possessed the ability to discern the strength of this large but mostly transparent ghost.

"#%$&#$."

"IS THIS WHAT YOU RELY ON TO DEFEAT ME? HOW INSULTING. THIS HUMAN GHOST OF YOURS LACKS THE BLESSED FLESH AND BLOOD OF OUR KIND. HE IS DEVOID OF THE 'MECH' AND 'WILLPOWER' THAT MAKES YOUR FALSE GODS SO DIFFICULT TO DEFEAT. HE ALSO DOES NOT HAVE THE DARK POWER THAT HAS EARNED THE DEATHBORN THE RESPECT THEY DESERVE. HE HAS NOTHING."

Blinky interpreted the alien leader's words for a moment before responding with a grin.

"You are not wrong, but you are not entirely correct either. This is just his initial form. Witness his true value!"

At this moment, the Victrix swooped closer before stopping right above the giant apparition of Imon Ingvar!

The Command Field spread by the living command fey of the Minerva Mark II shook with excitement as the will of Saint Casella Ingvar directly descended onto the Chosen Envoy!

Before, the intangible form of Imon Ingvar appeared large but hollow in strength.

Yet as the sister of the deceased champion began to channel more and more of her true resonance into the Chosen Envoy without reserve, the entity slowly became more substantial in ways that no one could explain!

The Chosen Envoy actually turned out to be a highly effective carrier of willpower and true resonance!

This was despite the fact that Imon Ingvar appeared on the battlefield without a mech or anything resembling one!

As the reborn ghost glowed brighter, everyone else nearby felt as if they were in the presence of an increasingly more powerful high-ranking mech pilot!

Casella's bestowal of power clearly exceeded the scope of Commandeering and Enfeoffment.

This did not surprise Ves and the Saint Commander.

Back when Venerable Imon Ingvar was alive, he was the only person that could perfectly 'carry' her sister's extraordinary willpower without generating any conflict.

This was an exceedingly rare phenomenon and only happened between high-ranking mech pilots who possessed unreserved trust in each other!

Ves had only ever witnessed this kind of magical fusion with the Geminis.

The fact that the Ingvar siblings could perform a similar feat should have been an amazing advantage!

It was unfortunate that the Emperor Tree killed Imon before the Larkinsons could make the most out of this amazing ability.

Imon's second life as a Chosen Envoy gave Ves the hope that he could salvage a semblance of this remarkable interaction.

Previously, he had been afraid that Imon's current… condition had somehow invalidated this operation.

The current course of events had dispelled those fears.

The Superdimensional Giant Regalia's resonance meter recorded increasingly higher readings from the Chosen Envoy.

Those numbers instantly shot past the limit of a Knight and subsequently a Baron and a Viscount!

They broke past thresholds that Ves had only regarded as purely theoretical because no instance of Commandeering or Enfeoffment had yet to hit them in reality!

It was clear that the kind of empowerment that Casella was performing at this very moment did not play by the same rules!

"I AM THE SOVEREIGN OF MY KINGDOM." Casella Ingvar declared as her willpower continued to strengthen her brother beyond all reason. "ALL OF THE KNIGHTS AND VASSELS WHO OPERATE WITHIN MY TERRITORY ARE ONLY PERMITTED TO SERVE UNDER ME. THE ONLY ONE WHO CAN REIGN OVER MY DOMAIN ALONGSIDE ME AS AN EQUAL IS MY BROTHER. WITNESS HIM. WITNESS HIS RETURN. WITNESS HIS…"

The Saint Commander briefly paused as her emotions spiked.

"ENTHRONEMENT."

What a transformative statement.

Imon continued to grow stronger, but it became clear that he and his sister were getting closer to reaching their limit.

The numbers only started to plateau once the Chosen Envoy had acquired a very exaggerated level of borrowed resonance strength.

"He… feels stronger than an expert pilot, but weaker than an ace pilot." The Dark Apostle almost stuttered in astonishment. "He is practically almost as strong as an ace pilot, but without the ace mech and Saint Kingdom! It is as if I have witnessed the birth of a quasi-saint!"

This was absolutely remarkable!

Though the true combat power of this boosted Chosen Envoy still remained a mystery, the Blackwater Summoner absolutely did not dare to take this new enemy lightly!