The Mech Touch

Chapter 7577 Exploiting Vulnerabilities

The condition of Ves' favorite ace mech did not look optimistic.

In truth, its current state was so absurd that Ves immediately grew enraged once he understood the D-mech's actual predicament!

Only a single high-ranking deathborn lord had been assigned to block the Riot Mark III.

Normally, the Destroyer spear-wielding ace mech should have been able to outfight this extra-galactic adversary in a straightforward clash, but the problem was that this adversary did not play by the same rules!

Instead of challenging a superdimensional ace mech head-on, the possessed phase lord avoided a confrontation where he would be forced to rely on his weaknesses to block the ace mech's strengths.

The enemy instead chose to do the opposite!

Although his hard power was unquestionably inferior to what Ves considered the strongest junior ace mech of all of red humanity, his true basis of strength rested on his completely foreign and unfathomable knowledge!

Somehow, the deathborn lord saw beneath the surface of the ace mech and recognized the obvious vulnerabilities of the Riot Mark III's control nexus.

The alien cultivator did not hesitate to weave a grand spell that acted directly onto Saint Rosa Orfan's psyche!

Normally, such mental attacks should have no effect on a powerful high-ranking mech pilot.

Willpower cultivators were practically made to resist such attacks!

Yet as powerful as she may be, Rosa Orfan was an atypical example of an ace pilot.

Unlike her many peers, Saint Orfan had only been able to break through when she was on the verge of losing control of her own soul!

Even now, the Middle Demon still occupied the majority of her spirituality, leaving her with only a cramped portion that she was still able to defend with the help of her extraordinary willpower.

This lingering condition left her with lasting problems.

For one, she permanently lost control of her human body. It remained partially fused to her piloting seat to this day!

The greater problem was her inability to restrain herself and her D-mech. The adversarial relationship between Saint Orfan and the Prophet's Bane generated constant tension and uncertainty. Uncontrolled outbursts had become an unhappy reality for the Riot Mark III.

Ves regularly kept track of Saint Orfan's mental state and progression.

The information he collected up to this point indicated that the constant struggle for control and survival continually stimulated the growth of Rosa Orfan's resonance strength.

Ves had managed to achieve at least one of the goals for turning the Riot Mark III into a dangerous D-mech.

The ace spearman mech had become the embodiment of the idea that adversity fueled growth!

However, Saint Orfan could never rest completely. Ever since her life had become intertwined with that of the Prophet's Bane, the latter never fell too far behind.

The Middle Demon's possession of the Riot Mark III and its direct connection with the ace pilot meant that the nefarious existence received lots of spiritual feedback with every passing day.

It had formed a parasitic relationship with its human host.

Saint Orfan may be growing at a faster rate than most of her peers, but all of that progress meant little if her demonic counterpart continually leeched off her accelerated progress!

This had become an unsolvable dilemma for the poor ace pilot.

During her more lucid moments, Rosa Orfan expressed an undying hatred against the demon and wanted to do nothing more than to break through first so that she could snuff out the Prophet's Bane herself!

However, there were also times when she felt apprehensive towards the notion that if she grew stronger, the demon would always follow suit.

She had thought more than once on whether she should cease her progression and allow herself to stagnate.

Unacceptable.

The ace pilot only considered the idea for a few seconds before promptly discarding it. There was no way she would give up her struggle and bury her head in the sand! Doing so would only give the demon an opportunity to grow stronger by itself, thereby leaving her even more vulnerable to reprisals!

For this reason, Saint Orfan always sought to stimulate and accelerate her growth whenever possible.

She keenly recognized that she must always preserve this tenuous balance.

Every deployment turned into a risk. The Riot Mark III's hostile nature constantly needed to be leashed and restrained. Even then, the D-mech occasionally lashed out at nearby friendlies or threatened to inflict other forms of harm towards fellow humans!

Only a tenuous balance existed between functional control and pandemonium!

Unfortunately for Ves, the situation related to the Riot Mark III had begun to lean towards the latter than the former!

"RRRHHHAAAAARRGHHH!" The Riot Mark III chaotically broadcasted over an open channel!

The voice sounded nothing like that of Rosa Orfan. It did not even sound particularly feminine either. The vaguely male voice uttered a scream that was affected by so much distortion that it sounded as if an FTL drive was in pain!

Those fighting relatively close visibly winced or leaned away in pain. The human units made sure to move further away so that they would not be at risk of getting eliminated by their own side!

Even so, the responses did nothing to help the struggling ace pilot from suffering an attack that directly targeted his psyche!

Each time the deathborn lord repeated his mysterious spell, the Prophet's Bane gained a modest but very important boost of strength, allowing it to temporarily wrench control from its hated human partner!

Those times did not last too long, but they were quite devastating!

For example, one of the most egregious moments was when the Riot Mark III fell under the control of its Middle Demon for the fourth time.

This time, the rogue D-mech did not randomly lash out against distant friendly units.

It had instead attempted to poke its multi-layered superdimensional frame's body with its own Destroyer spear!

The consequences of doing so would have been catastrophic!

It was only due to the Prophet's Bane reluctance and the intervention of other parties that the Riot Mark III's outbursts lasted as short as before.

Even so, it would only take a single act of manipulation to unravel this convoluted restraint.

This was exactly what the deathborn lord had done!

This alien menace had overcome the formidable resistance of Rosa Orfan's flawed willpower and managed to tamper with Saint Orfan and her demonic counterpart's relationship!

Through a variety of methods, the deathborn lord cleverly fed the Middle Demon's ego while simultaneously smashing Saint Orfan's basis of confidence!

The deathborn lord's earlier manipulations had created multiple cracks in the ace pilot's armor.

The enemy's latter mental attacks ruthlessly exploited these vulnerabilities and practically forced the ace pilot to vacate control over her own machine!

The Riot Mark III no longer pursued the deathborn lord as hard as before.

Instead, the D-mech deliberately reined in its aggression and maintained a more leisurely pace!

The chase had turned into a farce!

The Prophet's Bane correctly recognized that the enemy of red humanity was not necessarily its own adversary.

Their goals happened to align in part in this instance!

The deathborn lord wanted the human ace pilot to lose control of her own machine, and the Middle Demon was glad to see this happen!

The latter actively took advantage of the new openings and resolutely focused on expanding its gains.

If it was able to gain 100 percent of Saint Orfan's damaged soul, then the Prophet's Bane would become the definite winner of their ongoing struggle for dominance!

When Ves observed the Riot Mark III's unstable condition and realized what was happening, he practically felt sick to his stomach!

"Snap out of it, Orfan! You are an ace pilot! Your will is forged through the flames of war. Nothing should be able to damage your confidence and affect your sense of self! Remember who you are! Remember what you are fighting for! Do not let these alien bastards desecrate your machine!"

The mech designer's words elicited a small reaction from the ace pilot.

Saint Orfan managed to regain a bit of her confidence and conviction. She temporarily managed to regain control over her machine, which caused it to fly faster!

Her goal was to beat up the deathborn lord before the latter could cast another confounding spell!

Yet the possessed phase lord merely turned around and waved a limb towards the Riot Mark III.

A spiraling wave of darkness ejected from the undead phase lord's appendage and accurately struck the ace spearman mech head-on!

Even though Saint Orfan tried to disperse this ominous energy spiral with the help of her high-tier Destroyer spear, the weapon's destructive spearhead only managed to disperse half of the incoming attack!

Rosa Orfan's soul became affected by another mental shock. The Prophet's Bane pounced at the exact right time and managed to obtain effective control of the Riot Mark III once more!

"How is this possible?!"

These high-ranking deathborn managed to produce far too many surprises today. Their methods were not only sophisticated, but also a lot more effective than vVes or anyone else had anticipated!

"This is bad." The Dark Apostle commented. "If Saint Orfan cannot get her act together, the assault against the enemy orbital defenses will falter."

The absence of high-level support increased the burden on the remainder of the combined fleet.

At this time, the main formation had already become locked in combat with the enemy orbital fortresses and their guard forces.

Numerous human warships had already been felled, with many more bearing signs of serious battle damage.

Hundreds of mechs had fallen as their lack of numbers made it a lot more difficult for them to hold the line.