The Mech Touch

Inside a massive internal space that Ketis could not access or look into, she could vaguely tell that it had become the latest home of the ancient whale!

This… was the greatest purpose of the Heavensword. There were not many opportunities for a relic weapon to come across a weakened and immobilized phase whale, especially not without the Big Two swooping in to claim the creature for themselves.

Now, the sword that originated from the old galaxy had managed to capture what passed as a god in the native alien community.

As long as the Heavensword studied the phase whale and assimilated its power in whatever fashion, its application and abilities related to space would surely skyrocket!

"It turns out that the Heavensword is a self-evolving weapon!"

Maybe all weapons at the level of a grand work possessed the capacity to improve their functions and evolve over time.

She still thought that the Heavensword was quite exceptional in this regard. It had existed for so long and experienced so much time without a strong wielder that it had naturally grown to be a lot more independent, willful and self-sufficient.

Taking the initiative to capture a living phase whale did not sound so ridiculous anymore.

She did not even raise her eyebrow when she realized that a sword that was physically smaller than her own Greatsword could swallow up a starship-sized organism without breaking apart.

Having gone on multiple expeditions and witnessing a lot of crazy and incredulous sights, what just happened was not as funky.

Ketis could feel that her time with the Heavensword had come to an end. The weapon exerted a lot of strain in its attempt to capture the phase whale. This also induced a heavier strain on Ketis as well.

The ball of heavenly energy that helped to bridge the gap between herself and the powerful sword had dwindled by over 90 percent!

"Take me back, please." She requested.

Ketis did not want to get left behind in this gigantic cell!

It took less than a single eyeblink for Ketis to return on the battle-scarred floor.

Scorch marks, damaged walls, shattered debris and a lot of body parts that had been hacked to pieces littered the entire space!

Ketis sighed in relief now that she saw that she had rejoined her fellow humans. The people who spotted her abrupt return even lifted up their arms and cheered!

She briefly waved at them but directed most of her concentration to the Heavensword.

One of the many lessons she had learned from Ves was that nothing came for free!

She may have been fooled at first and maintained the assumption that the Heavensword was truly trying to look after her, but she was anything but naive.

The effort it invested into capturing the phase whale showed that the Heavensword possessed clear desires and the ability to act on them. It was an intelligent blade that had evolved over many years.

Indeed, her suspicions turned out to be accurate as the Heavensword conveyed one more thought.

She frowned for a moment and mulled over its request. The relic weapon did not issue an overbearing request, which meant that she was not obliged to act.

It was not in her nature to leave her debts unpaid. Everything had a price, and refusing to pay it incurred another price. There was no way she would make the foolish decision to offend a grand work that had just swallowed up a phase whale!

"You've shown me a lot, but I need lots of time to digest what I have learned." She whispered to the Heavensword that still exuded a lot of power. "To be honest, I am interested in designing a swordsman mech that embodies the concept of heaven and its many facets as well. The former citizens of the Heavensword Association in my clan will love what I have in store. I am not sure my skills are up for it yet, however. I estimate that it may take a few years before I can design a mech that can do heaven justice."

The Heavensword possessed a lot of confidence in her. Just as Ketis had been studying the weapon that she temporarily wielded, the powerful blade also took a good look at her! It was impossible for her to hide anything from a grand work of unsurpassed might.

Fortunately, Ketis was not Ves. She did not hold a lot of unspeakable secrets that she really did not want to spread. She was a swordmaster and she had nothing to be ashamed about.

Before the Heavensword left, Sharpie sprung out of the blade with a satisfied and blissful expression.

The miniaturized translucent copy seemed to have enjoyed her stay in the ancient weapon. Her outfit changed into a slender and more feminine copy of the pale white robes of the Heavensword Saint. Her exposure to so much heavenly energy also caused her to acquire a purer and more sacred demeanor.

"Heaven! Heaven! Heaven!" She shouted in her squeaky voice.

Ketis did not look amused. She stared at her companion spirit in admonition before jerking her head in dismissal.

"Heaven… Heaven… Heaven…" Sharpie spoke before entering Ketis' mind.

The Heavensword chose this moment to disappear. Its abrupt departure left a void behind that already caused Ketis to miss its overpowering presence.

An immediate sense of emptiness and exhaustion overtook her body. If not for the reinforcement of her recently repaired combat armor, she would have slumped over already.

Ketis hadn't noticed how much of a toll it took to hold the Heavensword!

Her willpower had run ragged at this time. She overstrained herself so much that she found herself unable to muster any desire to wield a sword for the rest of the day.

She was utterly spent for this battle. If she had no other choice but to fight, then she would be better off using a firearm.

At least the Heavensword had quietly taken care of the greatest threat in this pocket space. She couldn't imagine what it would be like if the phase whale still tried to get out of jail.

"Nhgh…"

She shook her helmeted head in order to clear her mind. As much as she tried to resist the influence of the Heavensword and preserve the purity of her own sword style, she could not hide the truth that she had already been influenced.

The Heavensword showed off too many tricks to her. Many of them were so objectively good that Ketis could not help but assimilate them into her own repertoire.

Blindly denying all of these best practices would not do her much good. This battle reminded her once again that she urgently needed to increase her strength and develop more effective sword techniques in order to cope with the powerful transphasic technologies that she would no doubt encounter again in the future.

The proper way to deal with this situation was to absorb what she learned in a way that enriched her sword style rather than replace it entirely. She did not want to lose her focus on sharpness, but she did not mind it if she broadened it with a couple of tricks taught by the Heavensword.

"Besides, I've gained a lot of inspiration and ideas for my next mech designs."

The Heavensword already conveyed a strong desire for Ketis to design mechs based on its properties.

Naturally, there was no way she could design a mech that could come close to replicating its god-like powers, but there may be ways for her to reproduce the feel of heaven.

Aside from that, Ketis also recalled the power of vibration. It would be great if she could incorporate it into a mech design that was specifically designed to breach transphasic defenses.

A project like this came with considerable technical challenges. Just shaking a sword at a high frequency was not enough. She needed to develop an entirely new sword style that took maximum advantage of this effect while also being easy enough for general pilots to learn.

Aside from that, she also wondered whether it was possible to apply what she learned to the Samurai Project.

"Probably not." Ketis shook her head. "The swords paired with this mech design are already filled with tech. There is no room for other features."

All kinds of other mech design ideas filled up her mind. She had to make a conscious effort to set them all aside and wait until this ordeal had passed before she picked them up again.

Her distracted state had no consequence on the rest.

By now, the bewildered human troopers had fully taken control over the floor.

Surprisingly enough, they did not ruthlessly execute the paralyzed and despairing pescan combatants that had lost all of their courage and determination to fight.

The soldiers instead stripped the aliens of their armaments and restrained them so that they could be handled later.

At worst, the alien captives could always be used as hostages!

Although it wasn't safe for the civilians to come up yet, it became clear that the human troops felt confident enough to prepare for the final assault.

Ketis dragged herself over to Ves and his surviving honor guards. He had been consulting with General Verle and pushing for everyone to attack the final floor.

Everyone stopped and stared at her approach.

This made the exhausted swordmaster feel awfully self-conscious. It wasn't every day that a woman broke out with power comparable to that of an ace mech!

"Ketis…" Ves started. "Was that you back then?"

"Not really. The Heavensword did most of the heavy lifting."

"Was that the real Heavensword, Ketis?! I thought it was a replica or a projection of sorts!"

"It is the real deal, Ves. Trust me on this. It came all the way here from the old galaxy in order to give me a hand. We should be thankful for its intervention and pay it back for saving our hides."

"How did the Heavensword fall into your hands?"

"That's a long story." She replied. "I can't tell you much as it relates to the state secrets of the Heavensword Association. I am also sure that neither of us wants to talk about this particular setting."

"...You're right. This is not the time and place for explanations. Let's discuss our next steps. Do you have any insights of what awaits us on the final floor? There are powerful transphasic energy shields blocking our attempts to scout what the aliens are up to on the floor above our heads."

"As a matter of fact, I do have a basic understanding of how many pescans are up there. I can even tell you a rough estimate of the weapons and means they have left."

She quickly gave Ves a summary of what the Heavensword managed to detect through its powerful survey. While she was a little short on details, it was better than remaining in the dark!

"Hm…"

Ves, General Verle and the other nearby officers frowned. Though they were all happy that they managed to defeat the bulk of the enemy opposition, a lot of elite alien soldiers still remained entrenched in the floor above. The human forces would inevitably suffer a fair amount of casualties if they tried to push inside.

It was at this time that Minister Shederin Purnesse came from the rear so that he could pass on his proposal.

"You don't have to launch another attack, sir. We can end this conflict without bloodshed. The reason why Great Chief Jaharon did not negotiate with us in good faith was because he thought we were trapped and helpless lambs that he could slaughter us at will. That is no longer the case anymore. We have completely reversed the disparity in strength. Now that the pescans are on the weaker side, we can definitely negotiate a favorable compromise with the survivors!"

Ves widened his eyes. "You're right, Shederin!"