The Mech Touch (Web Novel)

If the earlier spectacles already generated a lot of awe among the audience, then the great ritual that Commander Sendra had just initiated was a feast for everyone's eyes!

A lot of hidden technology buried underneath the surface came to life and began to manipulate the various elements in many intricate ways.

For example, after the luminar crystals on the surface all shot weak but constant weak light beams to the ceiling, the blood channels that connected the different constellations all broke up, causing the alien blood to pool around the active energy emitters.

Hundreds of different vortexes emerged as the converging pools of blood all began to spin like cyclones. The spinning streams of blood all started to ascend along the seemingly-solid light beams like snakes, causing many different helixes to take shape.

Once the helixes reached a decent height, they began to do something drastic. They flowed inwards and flowed into the deadly light beams, causing them to burn up instantly as they became bombarded by a considerable amount of heat and energy!

Lots of smoke started to sizzle from the places where the blood met its end. In the end, all of the alien blood that the Swordmaidens had spilled just earlier had been purified by the beams that represented the cleansing light of stars.

Soon, the only blood that was left was the liquids dripping from the blades of the silent and vigil Swordmaidens surrounding the open workshop. Once they received a hidden cue, they simultaneously stepped forward and walked in a synchronized motion until they reached the nearest active light beam.

The warrior women solemnly knelt and bent their heads forward until the top of their skulls pressed against the flat of their bloodied greatswords.

When they drew back, their foreheads and portions of their hair became smeared with the blood of many different species. If they hadn't received treatments beforehand, the blood would have corroded through their skin and affected health in many different ways!

Once they marked themselves with the blood that they had personally spilled, the Swordmaidens resolutely threw their weapons into the active light beams!

Hidden antigrav modules secretly captured all of the thrown weapons and made sure that they remained within the active area of the light beams.

It was a good thing that the Swordmaidens participating in this ritual wielded Breyer alloy swords instead of more expensive Unending alloy swords.

Even so, this was a difficult sacrifice to many of the sisters. Though the blades they discarded were recently-made and not their personal weapons, it went against the instinct of a swordsman to mistreat a fine blade.

The powerful energies coursing from floor to ceiling quickly melted the swords into slag. Yet before the energies could vaporize the metal completely, the antigrav modules pulled them out and began to mold them into balls that subsequently soared into the skies until they hovered above the energy barriers that enveloped the open workshop!

Soon, more and more gravity exerted from different directions began to press the hot and molten metal into a single amalgamation. The larger collection of metal soon began to mold into the form of a greatsword!

Cool air blew from many different directions and rapidly reduced the temperature of this giant, air-casted weapon.

Of course, swords that were made in this manner were not as tough and sound as properly-made weapons, but the giant metallic weapon served a symbolic meaning.

After floating above the mech arena for a single minute, it suddenly began to plunge onto the top of the energy barrier with its tip pointed downwards!

The first energy shield flared as it resisted the cooled weapon. Moments later, the straight light beams that were previously pointing outwards suddenly began to shift their angles until they tilted towards the center.

Hundreds of different beams attacked the giant sword from different directions, causing it to heat up and melt yet again!

The molten metal that emerged from this converging attack surged away from the center even as the luminar crystals slowly powered down and deactivated the light beams.

The cooling metal remolded back into a giant sword even as it floated back down. Once it reached the highest stage, a single Swordmaiden stood in the center.

The woman unsheathed her personal greatsword. The Unending alloy weapon slowly began to glow as Venerable Dise resonated with it with her will!

She did not even take a step forward in order to move close enough to strike the molten blade with her weapon.

Instead, she continued to focus her will in order to accumulate more energy. As her blade glowed brighter and brighter, she eventually reached her limits. The blue corona that surrounded and extended past her greatsword practically dwarfed her in size!

"As a mech pilot, I mainly fight against mechs instead of monsters." The expert pilot stated. "Regardless of whether my next opponent is organic or mechanical, I shall always slay the monsters that threaten our clan! Let my sword prove my sincerity!"

With a powerful cry, Venerable Dise struck the giant metal sword with her own glowing weapon! A powerful energy wave surged forth and instantly split the recently-cooled weapon apart and shattered the split pieces until nothing but fragments remained!

These fragments slowly flew away even as Venerable Dise retracted her will and calmed herself down. She sheathed her greatsword and turned around and stepped away.

An explosion of awe and joy erupted from the entire audience! It was quite rare for them to witness a swordmaster or an expert pilot with the power of one to exhibit their formidable abilities in public.

The powerful show of force completely stimulated the Heavensworders and other people withing the crowd!

"Venerable Dise! Venerable Dise! Venerable Dise!"

The Swordmaidens down below who each sacrificed a weapon all rose up to their feet and saluted towards the retreating expert pilot. Once they paid tribute to their greatest warrior, they retreated from the arena grounds as well.

Up in a VIP box, Venerable Joshua looked confused.

"Tusa, do you know what this stuff is supposed to mean?"

The fellow expert pilot shrugged. "Beats me. It has something to do about blood, stars, swords and cutting everything apart. That's the most I've been able to catch."

A snort sounded from the side. Venerable Jannzi directed a disdainful expression towards the two men.

"The Swordmaidens are praying for a powerful new sword for their champion. They need the strongest blades in order to spill enough blood to drown the galaxy."

"Is that it?" Joshua scratched his head. "That sounds rather extreme."

"Well, that's the Swordmaidens for you." Jannzi shrugged.

"And you're okay with that, Jannzi?"

"I'm okay as long as it is used to kill the right people. I don't want to spill innocent blood. Our clan should never stoop so low. If Venerable Dise ever crosses the line, I will put my shield in the path of her sword and halt her atrocities myself if necessary!"

Hopefully that would never happen, but who knew what the future held.

Back in the open workshop, the climax of the great ritual had produced the greatest spike in emotions in the mech arena to date! The urges and desires of all of the attendants simultaneously surged in the same direction. The energy in the entire venue aligned in such a fashion that both Ves and Ketis became swept with a strong sense of purpose and momentum!

While Ves only got a moderate boost in motivation out of this surge, Ketis became a lot more driven because of this spike.

Her eyes practically glowed as she began to perform her work with greater efficiency and precision. She also began to perform some additional improvisations that should lead to tiny increases in performance.

Several days passed by as the grand event continued onwards. The Swordmaidens and Heavensworders performed several great rituals throughout the days. They spaced them out and timed them so that they only took place when Ketis could most use the help.

Between these periods of peak excitement, the showmakers held other rituals that were more subdued in size and scope. It was impossible to keep an audience of spectators on the edge of their seats for hours at a time. By cleverly managing the excitement levels of the changing audience, they were able to contribute their energy over and over again without overdrawing their own excitement.

The parts that the Journeymen had made were undoubtedly affected by the rituals and the responses from the audience. This validated the theory that fabricating an important mech in front of a large audience had the potential to increase the quality of the output.

However, the results were more mixed than Ves expected. When they reached the halfway point, Ves took a moment to survey the work done so far. The components fabricated by the different Journeymen were not substantially better than normal.

The parts produced by Ketis were clearly the best. She was the most susceptible to rituals and their consequences. The components that would form the mech sword of the Decapitator Project were especially stunning. Ketis had clearly leveraged her dual expertise as Journeyman and swordmaster to create sharp and exquisite components that would soon be used to upgrade the Unending alloy sword taken from the Bright Sword Prime.

Compared to Ketis' earnest efforts, the work performed by Juliet and Gloriana were less affected due to their different mentalities. They approached their work from a different direction and did not feel connected to the crowd and the energy it generated.

The story might have been different if the rituals were centered around the Superior Mother and the audience largely consisted of Penitent Sisters.

Perhaps Ves could test differences in the future when it was time to fabricate another Hexer mech.

"First, I have to finish the Decapitator Project."

As blood continued to spill and swords continued to swing outside the open workshop, the Journeymen soon moved to a more critical stage.

While Ves, Juliet and Gloriana began to assemble different parts into a solid mech frame, Ketis split away from the rest to reforge an existing mech sword.

She stood behind the command console of a giant forging machine that had been especially configured for her use. It had even been upgraded with additional modules bought from Talulah Silver and Amswick to increase its ability to handle Unending alloy.

The advanced forging machine heated up and began to partially break down the original Unending alloy greatsword so that it could take on a new shape and integrate better parts.

The periodic waves of emotions that continued to affect her psyche caused her to become continually more invested in her important task. Her will became more honed as she set aside more and more of her humanity in order to become the instrument that was better able to forge the strongest mech sword for the Decapitator Project.

Yet despite passing on her increasingly more driven will to the others via Blinky's design network, it was not enough.

As seven days came and went, Ves retreated from the finished expert mech frame with an impassive expression.

"The expert mech is good, but…"

Ultimately, the outcome of this fabrication run matched his expectations. How could it be so simply to produce another masterwork? The Decapitator Project might look a little more exquisite than the Vanguard Project but it still wasn't close enough to the crucial masterwork threshold.

If it was just a bit better, Ves would have been able to employ a gem to push it over. As it was, it seemed his stash would continue to remain untouched.

Even as Ves began to accept the reality as he saw it, he sensed an explosion of will and energy from behind!

He rapidly turned around only to find that Ketis had finally completed the extensive reforging of Venerable Dise's original mech sword.

The initial one was optimized for the Bright Sword Prime.

The new one was supposed to be a much better fit for both Venerable Dise and her new expert mech.

Yet much to his astonishment, the mech sword was more than that.

Before his eyes, Ketis openly channeled the pristine and incredibly impressive blade that she had crafted while committing everything from her mind, will, body and heart.

The result was a giant greatsword that was better than her Bloodsinger, better than the greatswords wielded by other Swordmaiden mechs and better than nearly every other sword from the Heavensword Association.

When Ketis reached out and placed her palm on the flat of the enormous blade, the giant mech sword sung to life!

"Masterwork…"

Ves couldn't believe what he was seeing. He never encountered this situation before. He turned his gaze towards his wife only to encounter even more confusion.

"The weapon is a masterwork… but the expert mech that is supposed to wield it is not." Gloriana summed up the result.

Was this a success.. or not?

While the couple tried to make up their minds, the audience didn't think so much. The more knowledgeable members among them could instantly recognize how remarkable it was. To the true lovers of swords, the mech sword reforged by Ketis had become a transcendent weapon that every mech pilot dreamed of wielding!

"A mastersword! Swordmaster Ketis has forged a mastersword!"

Once the news spread among the crowd, the clansmen all stood up and roared at the results of seven days of crafting! From beginning to end, Ketis focused most of her efforts on making the strongest sword possible, and she succeeded in meeting her goal!

"SWORDMASTER KETIS! SWORDMASTER KETIS! SWORDMASTER KETIS!"

Ketis took in the validation from her supporters even as she deepened her connection to the weapon that she had made. The sword resonated so much with her heart that she felt that she was able to wield it regardless of the fact that she wasn't even large or strong enough to lift such an immense object!

Her sharp eyes raked across the entire surface of the giant sword as she already began to reap the rewards of creating a weapon that had the potential to become as legendary as the Heavensword!

In her attuned perception, the weapon that she had made was alive. Not only that, it sung to its creator with a song that only true swordsmen could hear.

"Sing!"