The Mech Touch

The fantastical rumors that spread through certain channels continually enthralled mech pilots that yearned to break past their mortal limitations and ascend to a higher state.

To many of them, the journey to the Nyxian Gap was their first step on the path of godhood!

It didn\'t matter if the battles were exceptionally cruel and deadly.

It didn\'t matter if entire fleets got destroyed at once due to the machinations of hostile god-like entities.

It didn\'t even matter that the majority of mech pilots who joined one of the two shadow empires did not appear to get any stronger.

Even a 0.1 percent chance to overcome their lifelong stagnation and weakness was enough for them to fight for the chance to rise to the same height as the likes of the Lady of the Night and the dark gods!

Most mech pilots who were free to choose their sides often flocked to the Oblivion Empire. Its members enjoyed more freedom and they received more support in their attempts to surpass their former selves.

They also adhered to the belief that the Oblivion Empress was the strongest \'god pilot\' in the Nyxian Gap! Otherwise, how could she fend off so many other supposed god pilots throughout the war?

Worshiping the strong was a natural behavior of mech pilots!

That said, the Abyss Empire did not fall too far behind. Not only did it have a connection to an unknown first-class organization, it also attracted an unlikely collection of second-class and third-class groups throughout the surrounding regions.

A constant stream of mechs, starships, resources and manpower flowed into a hazardous region that was already known to be deadly in normal times.

Now, the collision between two different shadow empires had turned it into a meat grinder of unfathomable proportion!

Though the scale of the Nyxian War was unable to match the scale of the Komodo War, it devoured a huge amount of lives, assets and potential every day!

Normal states would quickly descend into ruination if their armed forces suffered so much attrition.

However, neither the Oblivion Empire nor the Abyss Empire lost any momentum!

Instead, both of them grew more powerful and expansive as they absorbed more newcomers over time.

It wasn\'t just the Yeina Star Cluster that replenished their losses anymore. People and groups from other star clusters also heard about all of the wondrous and terrible events that took place in the Nyxian Gap and chose to take part in the greatest war of their lifetimes.

"This is our only chance to fight in the presence of gods!"

"The only way for us to advance to god pilot is to fight against the gods themselves!"

"The Nyxian Gap is the paradise of true warriors!"

With all of these beliefs and more, the soldiers of the Oblivion Empire valiantly took up arms and valiantly fought against the troops of the Abyss Empire!

Some of these mech pilots even dared to fight against the dark gods themselves!

The increasing amount of troops traveling to the Nyxian Gap started to affect an increasing amount of states. Many of them found that they were losing an increasing number of mech pilots.

No matter whether they were working in the private sector or public sector, mech pilots represented an important source of strength for any state!

What was worse was that these ambitious mech pilots rarely departed by themselves. They not only brought their mechs along, but also their buddies as they still needed people to crew their ships and service their machines.

If this pattern continued, how would states be able to retain their ability to fight? If their pool of reserves and war material was already half-depleted, then it was impossible to gain any advantages in a war! The losses would far outweigh the gains in most scenarios!

A lot of leaders and officials began to beg the Mech Trade Association to intervene. The mechers needed to stop the bleeding.

Yet no matter how many high-ranking dignitaries knocked on the doors of the Association, its representatives remained silent on this issue!

The mechers didn\'t come out and deny the requests. Each of them seemed to have been ordered to remain silent even as the ripple effects of the Nyxian War grew far beyond the boundaries of the Nyxian Gap!

Few people understood why the MTA chose to pretend that nothing unusual was taking place.

Perhaps the mechers were too traumatized by all of the losses they suffered whenever they sent their warfleets into the Nyxian Gap.

Perhaps the mechers did not care about the horrendous loss of life and did not have as much power left to intervene after redirecting a lot of war assets to the Red Ocean.

There were even people who believed the mechers actually looked forward to witnessing the two shadow empires fight and unveil all kinds of abnormal abilities!

Whatever the case, a lot of people once again realized how useless and unreliable the Mech Trade Association had become as of late. The branches in the Yeina Star Cluster appeared to be especially incompetent!

"Have the mechers all replaced themselves with androids gone into hibernation or something?"

"I told you that these high-and-mighty first-raters don\'t care about us space peasants at all! They are already willing to see trillions of us fall against the aliens. Letting our entire star cluster suffer hardly keeps them awake at night."

"If this isn\'t a conspiracy, then I\'m a Star Designer!"

As the Nyxian War continually escalated in intensity and scope, the Oblivion Empire recently started to receive a large amount of reinforcements from a close neighbor.

Large amounts of depleted and war-worn mech units of the Hex Army poured into the Nyxian Gap without any hesitation!

Each of these soldiers chose to fight on behalf of the Oblivion Empire after they answered a mysterious call.

There was nothing else left for them to fight anymore. The Hegemony\'s battle lines had collapsed. Their once-might state was losing star systems every day. Many of the leaders and elites that had taken charge of the Hexers for so long had chosen to run away to the Red Ocean like cowards instead of fighting to the end!

The fall of many Hexer planets was already assured. Trillions of honest Hexer citizens would soon fall under the sway of the terrible and tyrannical Fridaymen.

The victorious conquerors would surely take revenge on the Hexers by putting all of those innocent Hexer women and boys into reeducation camps where the prisoners would be forced to acknowledge that men were equal to women!

Faced with the horrific extinction of the Hexer way of life, the increasingly more ragged remnants of the Hex Army made several different choices.

The good ones were usually conscripted by the Hexer elites to accompany their evacuation fleets to the Red Ocean. There, they would have a second chance at starting a new and improved Hexer state.

The most fanatical and devoted followers of the Superior Mother became affected by a sector-wide mania that drove them to pilot as many Valkyrie mechs as they could get their hands on. Their only goal was to sow as much death as possible before they inevitably fell!

There was also a third group of Hexer soldiers that chose a different path. They did not desert from the Hegemony nor threw their lives away as if they were worthless.

The most hardened and experienced Hexer troops all gathered whatever mechs and ships they had left before leaving the crumbling battlefields. Each of their fleets left the Hegemony behind them and traveled straight to the Nyxian Gap!

At least tens of thousands of veteran Hexer mech pilots sought out the Oblivion Empire and joined the Oblivion Army on the spot!

The former Hexers-turned-Oblivion Servants quickly made themselves popular. Although many people found their Hexer beliefs to be annoying, their effective combat strength along with their military efficiency impressed a lot of other soldiers.

One of the more recent additions to the Oblivion Army was the Wrathful Doves.

At its height, the once-renowned mech army group fielded over 300,000 mechs!

However, as the Wrathful Doves continually threw themselves against their Fridaymen counterparts, their numbers kept depleting. The trickle of reinforcements could never catch up with the rate of attrition!

This had caused the Wrathful Doves to lose so many mech divisions and mech regiments that they only retained around 36,000 functional mechs when they joined the Oblivion Army.

Fortunately, the Wrathful Doves still maintained a strong core, even if many of their mechs and carrier vessels were falling behind in repairs and maintenance.

Of particular note to the Oblivion Army was the high-ranking mech pilots of the defecting Hexers.

Expert candidates, expert pilots and even ace pilots had chosen to continue their vocation in the Nyxian Gap rather than fight for the Hexer dynasties that had abandoned the Hegemony before the frontlines had even collapsed!

Each of these powerful elites received a lot of attention from the Oblivion Servants.

One day, a special expert mech descended upon one of the asteroid bases of the Oblivion Empire.

The mech resembled a Valkyrie Redeemer, but the difference was that it was built to the standards of an expert mech!

The Valkyrie Reaper was one of the first expert mechs the Hexers had developed!

While the Hexer mech designers were unable to design living expert mechs from scratch, they had discovered that there were still ways for them to build what they desired.

They simply had to take the frame of an existing living mech and upgrade it into an expert mech!

After a lot of trial and error, all of the Seniors and Masters learned that as long as their improved designs remained faithful to the spirit of the original Valkyrie Redeemer, the Superior Mother would still extend her blessing!

This enabled the rise of powerful expert mechs that perfectly complemented the new generation of expert pilots that had broken through while piloting one of the many Valkyrie mechs in service!

"Venerable Dorsa Avinx, reporting for duty." A weary expert pilot saluted an officer of the Oblivion Army.

The man responded with a sloppy salute of his own. "Welcome to Shardeen Fortress, Venerable Avinx. We have heard much about your exploits from your fellow Hexer comrades. You are one of the emissaries of a goddess."

"A Supreme is greater than a goddess." Venerable Avinx corrected the man.

"Whatever. We won\'t stop you Hexers from worshiping the Superior Mother as long as you don\'t bother anyone else. I am sure you have already read our rules. Just keep in mind that most of us respect the Lady of the Night over any other god or \'Supreme\', do you understand?"

"It makes no difference to me. Lady Nyx is merely another Aspect of the Superior Mother."

"You best keep that belief to yourself. The non-Hexers among us don\'t take kindly to the notion that the Oblivion Empress actually thinks men should be treated as little boys."

Though Venerable Avinx really wanted to knock some sense into the officer, she knew that this was no time to crusade for her beliefs.

"You told me that I came at a good time. Why is that?" She asked instead.

The man\'s face quickly soured. "A large mech army from the Abyssal Empire is on its way. Shardeen Fortress is one of our most important strongholds. It is not only a junction between different zones, but is also one of the few sites where we have built a lot of infrastructure. If we lose this base, we lose the ability to repair and build a lot of mechs and ships."

Venerable Avinx did not care too much about the prospect of heading into battle again. She had fought so many battles that death had become a part of her being.

"I will be ready to fight. My expert mech is in decent shape as well. Can I ask…"

"The Lady of the Night will definitely fight with us. The Oblivion Army will certainly bring its own dark gods, so we cannot fall behind. This is going to be a major battle. We need heroes like you to help wherever you can. Will you help us defend Shardeen Fortress?"

The Hexer expert pilot decisively nodded. Even though the Oblivion Empire was nothing like the Hexadric Hegemony, Venerable Avinx fully accepted the need to defend her new state!

The battle that both sides were preparing for started only days later.

The Wrathful Doves and other new arrivals barely had time to integrate into the Oblivion Army\'s structure and chain of command when distant patrols detected the approach of a massive Abyssal fleet!

Hours went by as both sides readied hundreds of thousands of mechs for deployment. These mechs came from all kinds of sources. Second-class mechs deployed alongside third-class mechs as neither side were too picky about the quality and strength levels of those that joined their ranks.

Not only that, the Oblivion Servants and the Abyssal Servants also prepared their respective warships. Just like the Nyxian pirates that previously dominated the region, neither groups paid much attention to the Big Two\'s taboos!

Most of them were crude and lumbering vessels that had been designed and built by different pirate groups. What they lacked in sophistication, they made up for it with power!

"The Abyssal Army is coming! Get ready, men!"

The invaders did not employ any clever stratagems. The Abyssal Servants straightforwardly threw their mechs and warships at the defenses of Shardeen Fortress in the hopes of conquering it through brute force!

Soon enough, thousands of mechs were being felled with each passing minute!

Chaos reigned as the space around the two sides became flooded with energy beams and physical projectiles. Many asteroids that happened to stand between the way of the opposing mech armies had all been blasted to pieces as the main and secondary guns of warships and base turrets directed a lot of firepower at each other.

"Fight, sisters! We are already damned, so why hesitate any further? Let us fight against their gods and be rendered into dust!"

Even though the Wrathful Doves hardly got their bearings together, the veteran Hexer soldiers had fought in many pitches before. Even though they faced completely different enemies, none of them flinched against their current opponents!

Entire mech regiments of Valkyrie mechs soared into space and circled around to flank and harass the mixed and chaotic elements of the Abyssal Army.

The attackers this time did not emerge from the central region but instead came from outside. This meant that the attackers this time did not include any of the dreaded first-class warfleets that were often capable of demolishing entire strongholds if left untouched!

The waves of Valkyrie mechs led by war-hardened Hexer mech officers quickly adapted to the rhythm of the Nyxian War.

They maintained their distance from the Abyssal warships and mostly engaged the flanking and scouting mech troops of the Abyssal Army.

Most of the time, the Valkyrie mechs hovered in the distance while firing their pulse submachine guns at their opponents.

Once they saw an opening, the Hexer mech pilots quickly initiated a charge while also directing the glows of their living mechs towards their opponents!

Much to their surprise, the glows of their Valkyrie mechs were much stronger than they were accustomed to! The Abyssal mech pilots became so paralyzed by the threat of death that they hardly even readied their machines to meet the incoming charge!

This outcome took place in several other parts of the battlefield.

Even the Hexer expert pilots noticed the difference!

"The Superior Mother is with us!" Venerable Avinx shouted as she regained her enthusiasm for battle!

Her Valkyrie Reaper became surrounded by a strong gray corona as it charged straight towards an enemy expert mech.

The enemy machine had been cutting down Oblivion mechs with its large and oversized axe.

Upon noticing the intimidating approach of the Valkyrie Reaper, the expert axeman mech did not turn back but instead prepared to meet the charge.

However, just before the Valkyrie Reaper was about to reach the opposing expert mech, its resonating power spiked and shot out a wave of energy!

This deathly energy impacted the expert axeman mech\'s resonance shield, causing it to weaken and fade.

The Abyssal expert pilot became completely surprised by what had happened!

"What?! How?!"

"Face the power of death!"

The Valkyrie Reaper mercilessly drove forth its spear, shattering the weakened resonance shield with ease!

Before the enemy expert pilot could even adjust, a speartip had already pierced through the axeman mech\'s powerful chest armor and penetrated through the cockpit!

The Valkyrie Reaper had claimed the life of another enemy expert pilot!

Venerable Avinx felt a surge of energy as she reveled in the reaping of another soul. She felt as if she had dedicated yet another powerful life to the Superior Mother!

"More. I need more!"

Yet before the Valkyrie Reaper could hunt down another enemy expert pilot, the battlefield suddenly shook as a mutation had occurred!

"A dark god has come!"

"Who is it this time?!"

"It\'s… the Massive One!"

Thousands of Oblivion mechs that were fighting in the front lines suddenly lost control and got pulled in a massive intangible orb of black!

The Massive One\'s powerful gravitic forces quickly tore the defenseless machines apart. Freeᴡebnᴏvel.cᴏm.

Before the intimidating dark god could crush other defending mech units with his immense gravity, the Oblivion Empire quickly dispatched its response!

"The Lady of the Night has come!"

"Lady Nyx! Lady Nyx! Lady Nyx!"

The morale of every soldier of the Oblivion Army rose to meteoric heights as they all felt her powerful presence with the depths of their hearts!

The silhouette of a huge female figure hovered over the defensive lines. This dark-robed figure radiated an imposing amount of power that invigorated every Oblivion Servant while transmitting doom to the Abyssal Servants!

As soon as the Oblivion Empress materialized into place, the Massive One became more agitated.

"Return our stolen crown." He conveyed through a means inaudible to anyone else.

"You can take your filthy crown from my dead body."

"You will regret your defiance!"

The Oblivion Empress and the Massive One instantly came to blows!

Both of them fought with godly powers! Whereas Lady Nyx primarily leveraged her control over the space of the Nyxian Gap, the Massive One utilized his formidable resilience to withstand every wave of attacks!

The space above the battlefield became turbulent and even deadly to those that strayed to close.

Even so, neither mech armies took a break! The presence of their gods spurred the soldiers to fight even harder!

Every mech pilot hoped to prove their worth and be rewarded for their valor!

Yet just as Venerable Avinx was ready to charge into an enemy mech formation, a friendly mech company suddenly froze and lost all power!

"What?!"

"It\'s the Cold One! The Cold One has appeared!"

A second dark god had showed up this time!

The hearts of many Oblivion soldiers shook as the female dark god made an appearance.

It was rare for the Abyssal Empire to dispatch multiple dark gods!

For two of them to arrive showed that the Abyssals urgently wanted to topple Shardeen Fortress.

"Damn, this is bad! The Massive One is fully focused on entangling the Oblivion Empress! She won\'t be able to stop the Cold One!"

"Deploy the Saints!"

Three ace mechs shot out from Shardeen Fortress and quickly approached the position of the Cold One!

Two of them were strangers to Venerable Avinx, but her eyes lit up when she spotted the third ace mech.

"It\'s the Megara Hex!"

The Megara Hex was an ace swordsman mech that was piloted by Saint Catara Evern.

The Saint originally fought alongside a different troop of the Hex Army, but decided to accompany the Wrathful Doves to the Nyxian Gap.

Now, one of the most powerful champions from the Hegemony had answered the call and deployed against the Cold One!

"Can three of our ace mechs possibly stand against a god mech?"

Many Oblivion soldiers grew concerned as the two sides began to clash.

Venerable Avinx watched carefully as the Megara Hex began to resonate with power!

Saint Catara Evern\'s Saint Kingdom came into force as her ace mech attempted to slash the massive, intangible energy body of the Cold One!

Yet before the magnified slash of the Megara Hex could find its mark, the attack along with the Saint Kingdom froze after becoming affected by the powers of the Cold One!

"No!"

The other two ace mechs also failed to make their mark!

"The Cold One is too strong!"

A dark god was not to be trifled with. The gigantic female god not only resisted the ace mechs, but also pressured them by wielding her frost powers in many different ways!

If this went on, the three ace mechs fighting for the Oblivion Empire would definitely fall!

"The dark god will prevail if we don\'t do something!"

Just as Venerable Avinx contemplated the suicidal option of joining this deathly struggle with her Valkyrie Reaper, a massive tiger suddenly appeared out of nowhere and bit off the Cold One\'s arm!

The dark god\'s eyes widened even as a sphere of frost exploded around her form!

Hovering alongside the three friendly ace mechs was a machine that exuded much more power.

The Saint Kingdom around the winged tiger mech was so strong and infused with power that the Cold One no longer paid attention to her other opponents.

"It\'s the Dark Saint! We\'re saved!"

As one of the most iconic mechs of the Oblivion Empire, the Devil Tiger had undergone many upgrades and improvements.

It received the attention of several Masters that had joined the Oblivion Empire for one reason or another.

Not only that, the Devil Tiger was able to gorge upon the remains of numerous first-class mechs and warships that the Oblivion Army defeated in the past!

All of these changes and more had completely elevated the performance of the Devil Tiger to new heights!

Yet what was even more remarkable was the evolution of its mech pilot. Once known as the leader of the Oblivion Hand, now he had become the most iconic and admired champion of the Oblivion Empire!

The Devil Tiger only beheld the Cold One for a moment before it and its ace pilot moved to attack!

"Is the Dark Saint strong enough to fight against a dark god?" Venerable Avinx asked with a touch of concern.

"Hehehe. You don\'t know anything. Just wait and see!"

Much to the astonishment of the recent recruits, the Devil Tiger\'s Saint Kingdom began to shake with more power than they have ever felt from any other ace mech!

"THE ENEMIES OF MY FAMILY SHALL BE MY PREY!"

Slowly but surely, the manifestation of a massive cat came into form! It completely enveloped the frame of the Devil Tiger and started to fight against the Cold One without falling behind!

"What is that?!"

"Isn\'t that the legendary Unity of Man and Machine!? How can the Dark Saint attain this state so easily?!"

"The Lady of the Night has blessed the Dark Saint! There is no other explanation!"

Just as Venerable Avinx felt assured that the dark gods wouldn\'t be able to overrun the defenders, another unexpected incident took place as the Oblivion Empress became hit by a surprise attack!

"It\'s… it\'s the Patient One!"

"No!"

A third dark god had arrived!

The giant shape of an old, long-bearded man in robes had appeared alongside the Massive One.

The appearance of all three dark gods of the Abyssal Empire exerted a huge amount of oppression towards the soldiers of the Oblivion Army!

"How can we resist so many god mechs?"

"We fight! Don\'t lose faith! The stronger our belief in the Lady of the Night, the stronger she becomes! For the Oblivion Empire!"

"For the Oblivion Empire!"