The Mech Touch

There were many differences between expert pilots and ace pilots.

From transforming their rudimentary resonance shields into proper Saint Kingdoms to unlocking the growth of their resonance strength to a much greater height, any expert pilot practically underwent a comprehensive rebirth and evolution from the moment they triggered a second apotheosis.

When Dise Larkinson finally attained her sainthood, what stood out the most to her was that she gained enormous improvement in her ability to sense, understand, reinforce and sharpen the metal under her control.

She was able to take immediate advantage of her newfound sense of metal to gain a far better grasp of what the First Sword and the Decapitator were capable of under normal circumstances.

Saint Dise then proceeded to infuse them with metal E energy drawn from the ambient environment to strengthen them far beyond what was normally possible with hyper technology!

Although the Unending alloy and other metals resisted this forced procedure, Dise's willpower had finally grown strong enough to defy this outcome and impose her own ideal result.

It was far easier for her to do this than other ace pilots due to her particularly strong affinity for the metal element!

With the temporary blessing of forced resonance, most of the actions that normally required Saint Dise to pilot an ace mech could all be applied without any major hindrance while piloting her trusty expert mech and battle partner.

The First Sword had grown enormously when Dise managed to break through. The feedback generated by a mech pilot attaining sainthood was enormous.

Not only did the living mech's spiritual foundation grow a lot stronger due absorbing all of the energies that Dise carelessly released during her momentous ascension, but the very essence of the First Sword became even more aligned the new ace pilot's domain!

This meant that the First Sword was able to absorb and contain far more metal energy than before!

The same applied to the Decapitator mech sword as well!

The giant and gleaming greatsword grew tougher and sharper without losing any flexibility. The masterwork creation practically sang when resonating with Saint Dise's willpower, and actively sought to make itself more useful in any way possible!

Saint Dise became delighted with every new facet that she managed to discover about her expert mech and mech sword.

If she wanted to, she could easily keep herself entertained for days as she patiently examined each and every aspect that she had overlooked in the past.

This was not the time for her to indulge in her newfound sensitivity and comprehension towards metal.

She turned her attention back to the Muscular Swordsman. Ever since he discovered that the expert mech was able to break the hold of his earth aura, he had backed off and patiently gave Dise the time to complete her transformation to sainthood.

Even though Dise was aware that she was not facing a real blood-and-flesh sword cultivator, she still made the First Sword perform a simple bow in respect to the energy manifestation.

The expert mech then turned around and bowed to the source behind her latest and most crucial

Realization, the Heavensword.

"Thank you for letting me see the truth of my own power. Now that I have clad my will in metal, I shall complete this challenge and beat you at your own game. You better power your energy manifestation up, or else I will easily cut off its head with my Decapitator!"

The power of the First Sword had reached an entirely new level, if only temporary. The current state of the Muscular Swordsman was simply outclassed on almost every level, so he was no longer able to present a worthwhile challenge to the new saint.

It would be too boring to cut down the adversary that had given her the chance to break through without any effort.

The relic weapon apparently registered her request, because the blade that was currently in the hands of the Elegant Swordsman transmitted a powerful pulse of heavenly energy that directly struck the Muscular Swordsman!

It was as if the earth-wielding energy manifestation received a massive upgrade!

His aura strengthened to the point where it was able to push back against the First Sword's Saint Kingdom.

The definition of his appearance improved and his energy signature had multiplied by multiple times. "Let's set aside this boring dance and go all-out! Give me all you got! Show me how a true swordsman from ancient times wields his blade!" ʀÃℕо𐌱Ęʂ

Her urge to duel became stronger than it had ever been in the past. The notion of being able lock blades with an actual representation of an ancient human sword cultivator exhilarated beyond all measure!

This was a rare and unique experience that was almost impossible to attain through other means! Dise did not want to miss out on this rare and precious opportunity!

Her current breakthrough state was temporary. Once she exhausted her reserves, the newly ascended ace pilot would inevitably enter a state of exhaustion. She needed to conclude this fight within this time window in order to end this day on a perfect note!

The Muscular Swordsman seemed to oblige with her demands by not wasting his time. After he fully processed the additional injection of heavenly energy, the Muscular Swordsman let out a silent shout and began to shock and vibrate the surrounding earth energy into his false body! Soon enough, the pieces of rock armor that previously only showed up just before the First Sword landed an attack appeared in a more persistent form this time.

The rock armor segments also began to multiply. They soon began to cover the mech-sized form of the Muscular Swordsman in a suit of pure condensed earth energy that had taken the form of a suit of armor made out of rock!

A runed suit of armor no less!

The rock-clas Muscular Swordsman even conveyed the name of this technique in a manner that transcended mortal means of communication.

Son of the Mountain.

Whatever these runes actually meant, they qualitatively transformed the previously crude applications of earth E energy and massively increased the efficiency and effectiveness of the rock armor!

The copy of the Heavensword went through a similar transformation. Shards of rock condensed around the originally slender blade and began to depict runes that massively strengthened ridiculously large and thick blade!

Collapsing Peak.

At this point, the augmented Heavensword could no longer be regarded as a sword anymore. Instead, it turned into an extremely thick and massive siege weapon that only vaguely resembled a sword!

Its edges weren't even sharp anymore. The Muscular Swordsman had completely given up on relying on the sharpness of his weapon, and relied entirely on the mass of his ultra-heavy weapon to inflict overwhelming blunt impact and concussive damage!

The two duelists couldn't be more different at this time.

The two even exuded completely different auras.

Saint Dise smirked as she readied her machine for a fight that she was bound to remember for the

Rest of her life.

"Go."

The First Sword boldly took the initiative and charged forward!

The Muscular Swordsman responded by swinging his massive transformed sword faster than Disc anticipated.

If the earth aura was still able to drag down the First Sword's mobility and cause the living mech to move sluggishly, then she would undoubtedly get crushed or expend excessive resources in an attempt to block this devastating blow.

However, the metallic gleam on the First Sword's armor system glowed brighter, allowing the mech to cut through the Muscular Swordsman's domain and shake off much of this debilitating effect! Like a shovel digging through soil, the First Sword only had to expend a moderate amount of effort to avoid getting bogged down!

Since the expert swordsman mech was originally a fairly fast and mobile machine from the onset, the restoration of much of her capabilities finally granted her a considerable edge in mobility!

The Muscular Swordsman's attack missed!

Yet just as the First Sword attempted to circle around her adversary and attack the Muscular Swordsman from the side, the latter's strike produced another surprise!

After missing its intended target, the rock-covered sword struck the fabric of space, generating a spacequake of sorts that rippled out in every direction!

The First Sword would have incurred significant internal damage if she had remained in her weak state, but her damaged but still functional Unending alloy armor system successfully resisted the quake effect with the help of lots of metal reinforcement!

"UNBREAKABLE BODY!"

Saint Dise practically felt invincible inside the cockpit of her trusty battle partner! The First Sword's armor system had always been a little thinner and easier to break in order to preserve her mobility, but now it was able to withstand attacks and effects that previously would have gotten her in trouble. This was just the start. Saint Dise was confident that as long as she mastered this new ability and raised her resonance strength, she could elevate the defenses of her First Sword much further

Beyond the upper limits of a 'mere' second-class expert mech!

In the end, the surprisingly tricky spacequake only caused minor difficulties to the First Sword.

Though the expert swordsman mech ended up stumbling and missing the best timing to launch at counterattack, Saint Dise still pushed through and forced her machine to strike with her newly sharpened and strengthened Decapitator!

The sharp and eager masterwork mech sword swung across space and ended up slicing through much of the rock armor like an axe cutting through wood!

Even though the strike failed to penetrate all the way through, Saint Dise was still happy with this

Result!

In the past, her expert mech's attacks bounced off the rock armor without inflicting any significant

Damage!

The Muscular Swordsman channeled additional earth energy in order to close the gap, but it took precious time for him to complete this process.

Saint Dise strengthened her attacks. The First Sword continually circled around her much slower adversary and launched opportunistic attacks that damaged the exterior of the Son of the Earth.

The Muscular Swordsman tried to fight back as hard as possible, but his Collapsing Peak attacks had no chance of crushing the faster and much more elusive First Sword.

At most, the energy manifestation was only able to rely on the secondary effect of this offensive technique and generate spacequakes that disrupted the First Sword's stance and depleted her energy a little faster.

The Unbreakable Body ability was not for show.

While the defenses of both fighters had proven to be fallible, neither side displayed any remarkable offensive capabilities that allowed them to break past the defenses of their enemies and inflict a crippling or killing blow.

If the duel continued to unfold in this pattern, then it would turn into a contest of attraction where

The combatant that ran out of energy first would lose the fight.

This was not what Saint Dise wanted!

Her forced resonance state was continuing to move closer to its closing state, so her First Sword

Backed off a bit in preparation to launch the extraordinary sword technique since evolving into an

Ace pilot!

Which one should she employ? Should she go for the classic and highly penetrating Sword of Lydia, or should she attempt a Decapitation Strike that allowed her to evoke a semblance of Ketis'

Sharpness?

None of them seemed suitable to her anymore. They were all sword techniques conceived in a time where Dise remained blind and ignorant to the power of metal.

They all needed to be reconstructed from the ground up in order to take full advantage of her

Incredibly high metal affinity.

As Dise gazed at her rock-covered opponent, a new idea spontaneously entered her mind.

She gathered her cuphoria, her love for metal and the scattered sayings of Ketis and fused them all into a brand-new extraordinary sword technique that seemed incredibly fitting for this situation! The First Sword slowly raised the Decapitator sword before lowering the blade until the tip was

Pointed at her target.

The masterwork mech sword then began to absorb more metal energy than ever before! The edges not only became sharper, but the entire blade gained additional extraordinary properties

That brought out the best of what metal had to offer!

As the Decapitator seemed to turn into an ultrasharp sheet of extraordinary metal, the First Sword finally charged directly forward, intending to finish off the Muscular Swordsman in a single blow! "MY SWORD SHALL NEVER KNOW DEFEAT!"

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