The Mech Touch

accelerated for a tiny instant, allowing it to dodge the spear that attempted to impale its front.
The mech swung its sword in a succession of rapid slashes that barely grazed the surface of Captain Orfan ’s mech.

Yet with each hit, the exploding energy field caused the mech to fall apart.

The first slash blew off its arms, causing the spearman mech to drop its precious weapon.

The second slash hit its abdomen, causing much of the armor at that section to be stripped off in an instant.

The third slash sliced off the head, which momentarily blinded Captain Orfan ’s mech.

The fourth slash slammed through the neck and into the exposed upper chest, destabilizing the mech ’s power reactor.

The fifth slash swung upwards on the same trajectory but deeper, allowing the sword to slam into the cockpit.

”This is your end! ”

Luckily enough, Orfan realized her precarious situation beforehand.
Just after the first slash landed on her mech, she already punched the eject button.
Her cockpit launched out of the back of her doomed mech just before the fifth slash hit home.

Lacking its rifle, the Loquacious Raphael helplessly witnessed the Vandal captain disappear.
”Tch! Scaredy Cat! ”

Lord Javier released his frustrations on the Vandals mechs that remained functional.
”None of you will get away! ”

The takedown of Captain Orfan ’s mech caused the Vandals to waver.
The loss of their immediate superior also caused the Vandal mech pilots to lose their coordination.
Though a mech lieutenant among their number attempted to take over the lead, the Raphael tore through their ranks too quickly for them to organize themselves.

It was like a fox in a henhouse! In just under two minutes, the Loquacious Raphael took down over twenty Vandal mechs!

Nobody could believe what had happened.
Just as the Vandals and the rebels took out the honor guard mechs, Lord Javier ’s last stand completely turned the final battle around!

This was a disaster for the attackers!

”Damnit! Addy slammed both of her fists against a command console.
”The Raphael is on the move! He ’s getting away! Intercept him! ”

”With what?! ” A rebel officer asked.
”The Vandals lost all of their assets in the vicinity and we don ’t have any vehicles left except for the mobile command center and the troop transports! ”

Both of those vehicles wouldn ’t last a second against the Loquacious Raphael, especially in its empowered state.

Addy gritted her teeth.
Both she and Breskin wavered on the decision whether to pursue the fleeing mech.
They might just be sending more men to their deaths if they did so.

Ves spoke up at that moment.
”Don ’t forget that the Raphael is already a total loss! It won ’t last more than half a minute! I suggest you put your vehicles on pursuit, but keep them at a distance.
Lord Javier ’s mech will collapse sooner or later, and when that happens, get ready to intercept him or his ejecting cockpit! ”

”You ’re right! ” Addy shook her head.
”This is only a temporary state! There shouldn ’t be any way that ridiculous mech can sustain this mode forever, or else it would have unleashed it at the start! ”

”We are moving our forces in position, but we don ’t have enough men and vehicles at hand to surround the entire perimeter! ” Commander Breskin informed the base the command channel.
”Send everyone you can spare and fan them out in hundred meter intervals in case Javier decides to eject! Ready our remaining portable anti-air assets as well! ”

The rebel base was in the process of evacuating the premises, so they already readied most of their vehicles.
With the change of plans, they abruptly switched gears.
They dumped out most of their cargo from their transports in order to make space for any available man or woman.

The Raphael ran as far away as it could from the rebels, but the mech already showed signs of breaking down.
Some of the sections of its twin power reactors began to melt down from the excess heat and energy that ran through its channels.

”A supernova is a star ’s last hurrah. ” Ves quietly remarked.
”Burning brighter than ever before and exploding with the fury that shakes the local cosmos, the death of one star will invigorate the life of other stars. ”

Supernovas happened all the time in the galaxy.
With hundreds of billions of stars spinning around its core, it didn ’t matter if their lifespan could be measured in eons.
Stars burned as long as they possessed the right substances to burn.
The moment they ran out of fuel, they transitioned into a wholly new shape, which sometimes led to an explosive bang.

”No matter how much Lord Javier stretches his Raphael, he can ’t stave off the inevitable. ”

As a mech designer attached to the Flagrant Vandals, he was excused from joining the final chase.
Even Addy moved out to lead a contingent of rebels.
The only ones who remained were the elderly and the disabled rebels who took on the role of caretakers within the Detemen League.

Instead, he stayed behind and performed some additional analyses.
From his hasty calculations, he predicted that the Raphael ’s twin power reactors couldn ’t be shut down anymore.
Instead, the runaway reactions continued to build up, which only exacerbated the heat and energy build-up.

In short, the mech would soon explode with enough force to take out an entire city block.

”Don ’t approach the Raphael! It ’s going to blow soon! ” Ves informed the rebels over the channel.
”Anyone on foot should stand at least five-hundred meters away! Chances are high that Lord Javier will eject! ”

Only a few seconds passed before his words came true.
Lord Javier would never choose to go down with his mech.
With only an instant to go before the power reactors reached a critical state, the rear armor of the Raphael blasted apart, opening up an avenue for its cockpit to blast off from the doomed mech.

A halo of rainbow enveloped the cockpit.
Boosters at least twice as powerful as those attached to a regular cockpit pushed the boxy mass away from the doomed mech.

Just as Lord Javier ’s cockpit cleared away, the Loquacious Raphael finally couldn ’t hold it any longer.

Its twin reactor exploded in unison, which quickly blended into a massive explosion that wracked the ruined terrain another time.

Despite the glorious explosion happening in the vicinity, none of the rebels paid attention to the tragic sight of a hero mech ’s end.
Instead, they focused all of their efforts at taking down the cockpit traveling through the air.

”Fire the missiles! ”