The Mech Touch novel Chapter 27

In an unspoken agreement, the reinforcements that came with the Caesar Augustus busied themselves with fending off Melinda’s allies.

"That’s a nice mech you got there. Shame about the armor though."

"It’s the Marc Antony, designed by someone I know. It’s supposed to be a more affordable alternative to what you’re riding."

The Caesar Augustus pilot let out a contemptuous snort. "The mere thought of cheapening any of this frame’s components is abhorrent. It goes against everything this august mech stands for. You and your friend have no idea how much you sullied its grandeur."

Like an unstoppable tide, the Caesar Augustus kept closing the distance as it exchanged laser blasts. Melinda’s laser cannons were running hot, but the only thing she managed to achieve was to heat up the top layers of her opponent’s shield, causing only a fraction of its mass to melt. Its defensive power was a testament to National Aeromotives’ heat-absorption research.

"It’s useless! Face the inevitability!"

"You talk too much!" Melinda yelled as she abandoned her laser fire for a close-in approach. Like a nimble gorilla she threw her mech forward while juking as much shots as she could. The Marc Antony strained against the sudden turns even as the incoming fire heated up a lot of portions of her mech. It made the Marc Antony seem like a demon from hell, with its dark armor, glowing red spots and the ever-present water vapor leaking from the crest of its head.

"That’s a funny gimmick, the Roman helmet design. But I’m afraid you’re going to lose it when I HACK OFF YOUR HEAD!"

The Caesar Augustus came into melee range, but despite the pilot’s words the Augustus continued to charge forward like a train. Melinda only belatedly dodged to the side, suffering a glancing blow from the Augustus’ quick slash.

The two came together again and engaged in a furious exchange of blows interspersed with opportunistic laser blasts. The Augustus’ shield was virtually indestructible as Melinda’s dual weapons lacked sufficient weight or sharpness. The white sword struck with measured, disciplined strikes that followed a mysterious pattern. It successfully held Melinda at bay.

The pilot of the Caesar Augustus must be an elite. His formal piloting skill overwhelmed her own as he moved the Augustus fluently like it was his own body. From his sword style to his movement pattern, everything the pilot did only put Melinda in a tougher position.

"Give up. I’ve seen what your mech is made of. You’re an inferior copy."

"Shut up." Melinda replied as sweat poured down her face. She tried her best to hang on, but the opponent kept chipping away at the HRF plating that kept her mech protected.

"I can understand why you pilot such garbage. After all, if you don’t have the money, you’ll never pilot a mech as magnificent as the Caesar Augustus in your lifetime."

"Not everything can be measured with money!" She hissed as she surged forward, risking a deadly stab which she parried with her borrowed sword. Her weapon cracked and broke in half, but it succeeded in taking the wind out of the strike.

Her mace already pounced from above, the heavy rounded end travelling in a straight arc towards the Augustus’ head. The enemy pilot hastily raised his shield, bouncing the mace back with a heavy vibration.

"Hah, what will you do now without a sword?"

"This!" Melinda dropped the broken sword and used her wrist to fire a couple of point-blank laser blasts right in the eyes. While most of the head was able to endure the heat, the main sensors and the delicate components buried deeper in the head were not so lucky.

The enemy pilot screamed as he lost his primary vision. He performed a reflexive bash with his shield that pushed the Marc Antony back. She stepped backwards along with the push, and started to slink sideways in order to take advantage of the fact the Augustus now relied on its secondary sensors.

"You think you’ve blinded me? You’re wrong!"

Surprisingly, the Augustus shifted adeptly in Melinda’s direction. Perhaps wary of another point blank surprise, the Augustus with its melted head kept its distance while firing its wrist laser. The Marc Antony spent its energy at a fast rate trying to dodge the shots.

"I’ve been lenient to you so far. I didn’t expect you to scorn my face. Very well, let me show you the real power of the first emperor!"

The Augustus dropped its shield, relinquishing much of its defensive advantage over the Marc Antony. Nevertheless, the Augustus moved forward with renewed grace. The enhanced speed alarmed Melinda, and it took all she had to dodge the Augustus’ masterful sword stroke. The follow up strikes chipped away at the Marc Antony’s exterior, shaving off several portions of its arm and torso armor.

Melinda pushed down her panic and kept composed as she danced around with her mech. As each second passed, she felt her conscious mind grow more intense. The Marc Antony’s dark form echoed her every thought, allowing her to avoid the Augustus’ swords repeatedly. Even in the instances where she couldn’t avoid damage, she exerted her utmost to let the sword strike her mech’s best armored sections.

"All you can do is run like a cockroach and jump like a monkey!" The pilot bellowed, frustrated at the continual chase. "That’s all a cheap whore riding a cheap imitation like you can do. You’ll never be able to match me and my mech’s brilliance!"

An irrational spike of fury invaded Melinda’s thoughts. All her formal Guard training warned her not to lose her composure. Having spent a lot of time mediating between hotheads piloting multi-ton war machines, she was well aware of the dangers of letting your anger get the better of your decision making.

"The Marc Antony huh? I suppose you’re not familiar with Ancient Terran history. You see, way back then, Augustus defeated Marc Antony repeatedly. And now, history will repeat itself. Your cheap joke of a mech will never be as worthy as mine!"

None of her reservations remained.

Indignant at being looked down at, she willingly embraced her anger and howled. The ferocious call stuttered the young pilot’s attack, causing him to present an unforgivable gap in his assault. Melinda struck out with her mace with the limits of her mech’s capacity, channeling the kinetic energy of her mech’s legs, its rotating torso and its entire arm in a single devastating swipe that landed accurately against the Augustus’ sword grip.

The fingers crunched as the impact of an entire mech’s momentum couldn’t be stopped by such delicate limbs. The middle and ring fingers even separated entirely. Despite the critical damage, the Augustus was nimble enough to throw its sword to its other hand. Once the Augustus regained its weapon, the Marc Antony would suffer as it overextended itself severely in its last attack.

Melinda’s eyes sharpened as she used the brief moment to do something unorthodox. She engaged the emergency release catches that kept the Marc Antony’s shoulder launchers attached to its armor. Using the remnants of her mech’s forward momentum, she caused her mech to bodily fling the launchers at the gobsmacked Augustus.

"No matter how much money you have, you can’t spend your way to victory." Melinda grinned as she waved goodbye with her mech’s free hand.

She activated the overrides that caused all the missiles to explode their payloads at once. Twin suns appeared in their midst, blasting the Marc Antony backwards. The explosion further cracked her mech’s armor, but she was able to get it to stay on its feet.

As the smoke and fire cleared, the Caesar Augustus looked much sorrier than before. Its armor surprisingly only sported a few cracks and craters despite suffering two concentrated magazine detonations.

Unfortunately, even if its armor retained much of its effectiveness, the more delicate components underneath suffered worse. The amalgamated explosions radiated the combined shock waves of a full salvo of missiles. Worse, the propellants of the missiles hadn’t been expended at all, so they blew up all at once as well, adding an incinerating quality to the explosions that left the bedraggled Augustus half-burning in mechanical agony.

"What, what is this.. I can’t move my mech.." The distressed young man said as he kept trying to take control over his mech’s twitching limbs. "The Augustus... is..."

"The Augustus is only mortal." Melinda interjected as she guided her mech’s foot to crunch the other hand of her opponent’s mech into scrap. The Marc Antony ominously leaned over, bringing its menacing and battle-scarred face close to the Augustus’ half-smashed and half-burned face. "You’re not invincible inside that expensive toy of yours." _{freeweɓnøvel.com}

"At least I’m able to afford one in the real universe."

"You’ll get your ass whipped just the same." Melinda noted, then bashed her mace against the Augustus’ torso. The cracks expanded but the armor surprisingly held up against the blunt force trauma she frenziedly inflicted. By the time her mace broke off from the abuse, the enemy pilot’s body had long since fallen apart from the excessive shock impacts.