The Mech Touch

This lightning tribulation gave Ves a very necessary dose of reality.

If he wanted to develop a personal Polymetal mech for himself that he could one day use as his own version of a phase lord raiment, then this was not enough to turn himself into an effective combatant.

Ves also needed the courage, the fighting spirit, the combat acumen and the weapon skills in order to make the most out of his gear and other endowments!

It couldn't be helped. Ves was a mech designer by nature. While he did have a bunch of incarnations that allowed him to accrue other kinds of knowledge, very little of it was related to helping him become a better fighter.

At most, he received adjacent information on how other mech pilots and soldiers fought. That was purely theoretical knowledge and did not infuse him with any remarkable fighting skills.

Even his power as a phase lord was mostly a facade. Compared to the well-trained and highly elite soldiers of the Ur-Titan Phalanx, Ves was a complete scumbag of a phase lord!

He had not developed his spatial abilities all that much, and he was not able to effectively leverage his gigantic physique like an actual fighter.

He also did not undergo any systematic combat training, so he wouldn't be able to coordinate effectively alongside mechs or other human phase lords on the battlefield.

In short, Ves was still a creator at heart. If Ketis received the same endowments as him, she would definitely be able to defeat ten versions of himself!

Even though his lack of combat training held him back in certain situations, Ves had no intentions of devoting a significant amount of time or resources on addressing this shortcoming.

Instead, Ves believed it was much more convenient if he could borrow the excellent fighting skills of other powerful soldiers and warriors!

One of the plans he had in mind was to use a Divine Envoy like Imon Ingvar as a 'spiritual mech pilot'.

When the time was right, he would figure out a way for Imon Ingvar to come out and directly possess his body as if he was piloting a biomech!

Hopefully, there should be enough parallels between piloting a mech and controlling the body of a phase lord that most of Imon Ingvar's piloting skills transferred over to this abnormal situation.

This had always remained an idea, though. It was nothing more than a daydream as far as Ves was concerned.

He never expected that he would get to experience a version of this solution when

Wielding the Bitter Scimitar!

In hindsight, he shouldn't be too surprised. Not only did he design the masterwork D-arm with symbiosis in mind, but he had also made sure to prep the Middle Demon to be able to take over its own wielder when the opportunity arose!

Ves initially found it quite scary to surrender his body to a foreign party to this degree. He instinctively wanted to resist and wrest back control, but he did his best to hold himself back.

At this point, he needed to place his trust in his own arrangements. The Bitter Swordsman was rational enough to understand the stakes. The repeated lightning strikes already made him feel as if he was half-dead, and the power of the following strikes would only ramp up further!

Given the dire circumstances, neither Ves nor the Bitter Swordsman wasted any time on uscless planning or discussions.

They communicated with each other on a level that went beyond verbal communication. Unfortunately, a lot of messages got lost in translation. Ves was not a mech pilot of a soldier, so he was unable to interpret his counterpart's meanings.

It didn't matter. The Middle Demon rapidly familiarized himself with the novel experience of 'piloting' a giant human body.

Although the actual experience was far different from piloting a typical humanoid mech, the demon somehow gained a remarkable talent and ability to control all bodies it was able to access.

Since Ves strangely lowered almost all of his defenses to a minimum, the demon encountered virtually no resistance, so his acclimation speed was therefore incredibly fast!

The Bitter Swordsman did not betray Ves' expectations.

Although he was still getting the hang of controlling Ves' true body which was currently scaled to the size of a high-end second-class mech, by the time the next lightning bolt struck, the demon responded a lot more fiercely than Ves ever could!

The Middle Demon moved Ves' untrained but naturally powerful true body in a proficient manner and used both a real arm and a ghost arm to cross two sword blades in front of his chest in a guard position while pumping as much E energy into the weapons as possible!

CRACK!

The lightning strike struck the crossed blades and passed through them, but not before weakening by a significant margin!

Both the Bitter Swordsman and Ves' body ultimately received a less severe shock. Just as the next strike was due to arrive, the Bitter Swordsman continued to explore and

Figure out his new abilities as a Middle Demon.

He could do more than conjure up a ghost arm and casily take possession of Ves' body! "Don't forget about your domain!" Ketis shouted from the side! "As a recently promoted Middle Demon, you have grown equivalent to a fresh ace pilot! You should have a power that is similar to a Saint Kingdom but weaker. Try and unfold it so that you can harness

More energy!"

The Bitter Swordsman did as instructed. He did not know it before Ketis spoke, but now that she gave him a crucial reminder, he suddenly discovered that he could indeed deploy his domain outward!

A fairly weak domain began to expand from the Bitter Scimitar. Ves and Ketis could immediately feel that it was filled with negative energy.

What was special was that this domain used to be weaker a short time ago. After getting repeatedly baptized by tribulation lightning, the domain had already transformed to an extent. It had grown stronger and was better able to cope against the wrath of the

Heavens.

While it was rather messy and polluted, the more dominant attributes were pride, murder and darkness. These had become the most prominent traits or obsessions of the

Bitter Swordsman after he had become demonized.

Yet the Middle Demon's domain also gained a small measure of symbiosis, which was derived from the life element.

In ancient cultivation parlance, this was the small bit of bright yang energy that accentuated all of the dark yin energy.

The benefits of retaining a small measure of an opposing attribute were myriad. No one could completely understand light unless they also grew familiar with darkness, and vice

Versa.

The Bitter Swordsman may still be weak among other Middle Demons, but he possessed more control over himself and could execute his techniques with greater skill and

Precision!

Even though it was impossible for a former expert candidate to perfectly replicate the refined body control and extraordinary combat techniques of an ace pilot, the Bitter Swordsman had grown so miraculously stronger after his demonization that he was definitely able to fight at a level far exceeding when he was still alive!

Ves could still clearly perceive this difference even if he had no true understanding of the nuances of every movement and technique.

CRACK!

This time, the Bitter Swordsman leveraged his weak domain as well as his control over Ves' body, and managed to attain an even better result!

The domain not only expanded the amount of E energy that he was able to harness, but

Also provided a little extra protection against the lightning bolt!

This time, both the physical sword and the ghost sword slashed upwards at the exact same time, producing a strange form of resonance that temporarily raised their ability to

Withstand the shock!

Although the Bitter Swordsman suffered greater trauma by incurring significant damage to his domain, it could have been worse!

The Bitter Scimitar may actually be able to get out of this ordeal stronger and more

Cohesive than ever.

"Only three more left!" Ketis shouted in encouragement! "The final strikes will be heavy, but I know you can do it. A blade forged from my hand should never fall apart so easily."

The tribulation storm certainly tried.

CRACK!

This time, the Bitter Swordsman managed to conjure up more metal and darkness energy and used his two swords to form a strange energy whirlpool that blocked a greater proportion of the incoming lightning strike than before!

This move successfully exhausted a greater proportion of the power of the tribulation

Lightning.

The physical scimitar became slightly deformed and its degree of demonization had

Dropped, but the Middle Demon already began to 'repair the damage after absorbing a lot of mixed energies.

Ves grew a little more apprehensive. The punishment to his body became more severe. While that meant that his true body was finally growing a little bit faster, he knew that the Bitter Swordsman must be enduring a lot more torment.

"Hang on! You still have an entire life ahead of you. Do not give up. Prove that you deserve a second chance by denying the heavens themselves! Do your best to stop the attempt to drag your tainted soul to the afterlife and prove that you are strong enough

To defy death itself!"

Pride and conceit swelled from the Bitter Scimitar!

The physical blade as well as the ghost sword began to spun in a way that stirred up a lot

Of ambient E energy. A stronger sense of resonance affected Ves. It was as his true body had become the Bitter Swordsman's expert mech!

Unfortunately, Ves was not a real expert mech. His ability to resonate with the Bitter

Swordsman was too weak.

CRACK!

The second-to-last lighting strike inflicted more severe damage than before!

Both Ves and the Bitter Swordsman screamed, with the latter suffering significantly

More damage!

Due to the sub-optimal circumstances, the Bitter Swordsman was only able to elevate his ability to resist the lightning tribulation to this extent and no further.

He needed a lot more time to get the hang of his domain, his new abilities and the novel experience of piloting the body of a human 'phase lord"!

Even if the Middle Demon had become unnaturally good at understanding its innate

Abilities and learning how to control Ves' body, he ultimately needed a lot more time to

Translate his many new capabilities into actual combat power. That was time that he did not have!

As the storm clouds in the skies of the System Space grew thicker and more ominous,

Ves and the damaged Bitter Scimitar knew that they were facing their final test. More and more energies surged into the last discharge of tribulation lightning. Just like the 9th strike, the 18th one promised to be an unusually strong attack!

Ves' mouth began to smirk. Whether that was due to Ves or the Bitter Swordsman remained unclear.

The true body began to flourish both blades before confidently pointing their tips

Upwards!

"I DEFY YOU!"

CRAAAAACK!

Just before the final bright golden lightning bolt struck, a spatial barrier briefly came into

Existence, only to break right afterwards as it was unable to resist the full force of the

Attack!

Yet because Ves had activated one of his spatial defenses before the final strike, the lightning bolt expended just enough energy that it was not as good at overcoming the subsequent layers of defense as before.

When the tribulation lightning finally struck the Bitter Scimitar, it looked scorched and slightly deformed, but it still retained part of its demonized state!

As for the Bitter Swordsman, the damage inflicted by the 18th strike had indeed brought

Him a lot closer to his death, but the infusion of creation energy had partially restored him and strengthened his foundation to a much more significant degree than before! "HAHAHAHAHA! I LIVE! I DEFIED THE HEAVENS!"

As the Bitter Swordsman slowly healed from his remaining injuries, the Bitter Scimitar

Recovered as well.

Its degree of demonization not only deepened to its original level, but even went a step further, becoming stronger, weirder and more mysterious by the second! Ves grinned with extreme satisfaction as he took back control over his body.

He expected for the Bitter Swordsman to resist, but the final strike briefly left him far

Too injured to put up a good fight.

It didn't matter. Ves was more than confident he could forcibly regain control over his body with the help of his companion spirit.

If that did not work, then Ketis and the Heavensword would definitely be able to lend a

Hand! Ves did not think about that, though. All he had in mind was the fact that his first proper

D-arm finally began to live up to his high expectations.

"This is the true power of Demoncasting!"

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