The Mech Touch novel Chapter 786

The Swordmaiden champion called dibs on dueling Hokaz, the Tyrant of the Wastes and presumably the ruler of Mulak, the city the Flagrant Swordmaidens once called A27!

Naturally, Captain Orfan strenuously objected. She wanted to hog the right to duel the formidable-looking Hokaz for herself!

Both Byrd and Clarrissa tried to hash the argument out among themselves.

"Captain Byrd, my champion is not only an experienced duelist, but also a hunter of many varied exobeasts." Captain Clarissa explained. "There are no other beast hunters among our ranks who have hunted down more exobeasts than Lieutenant Dise! While I respect you Vandals on your combat prowess, your forces are predominantly trained to fight against other mechs! Fighting an exobeast is another matter entirely than fighting a mech!"

Eventually, Byrd conceded against Clarissa’s logic. She felt no guilt in ordering Captain Orfan to leave the job of dueling the biggest and baddest-looking exobeast to Lieutenant Dise!

"That’s not fair!" Orfan complained. "She’s just a pirate lieutenant! What gives her the qualifications to hog the big guy for herself! I should be the one to go toe-to-toe against Hokaz!"

Captain Byrd remained undeterred, however. "We know nothing about their species nor their combat prowess. Those embedded crystals possess an astonishing amount of power, and Hokaz exhibits the most of those strange crystals. Against these unknown species with unknown capabilities, it is best to reserve our best exobeast hunter against their biggest beast. Don’t be too upset, Rosa. You have the honor of going first against their second-strongest creature."

Although Captain Orfan replied over the comm with a profanity-laden tirade, Byrd swiftly muted the comm channel as if it was an ingrained reflex. After ten or so seconds, she unmuted the channel again.

"Fine! Just fine! I’ll go forward and serve up my mech as your guinea pig, but you better give me first dibs next time!"

The Vandal mech captain jumped back into her cockpit and directed her mech forward in a clear acceptance of the challenge.

Lieutenant Dise entered her own Devil Razor and took a step back to indicate that they agreed to a one-one-one duel.

That served the other side just right. The lead rider looked to the woman who piloted the second-strongest exobeast. They exchanged some words before Hokaz slowly lumbered backwards.

The other exobeast proceeded to hobble forward. While this creature was almost as large as Hokaz, it looked a bit more slender than the Tyrant of the Wastes, though it was also longer from head to tail. Its scales and hide took on a deep dark blue coloring, only to be broken up by a speckled pattern of shiny white scales.

The creature looked like it embodied a star-studded night. Ves wondered if the stranded descendants even knew what night really looked like. With the bright astral winds flowing constantly over their heads, Aeon Corona VII had never once experienced what it was like to be plunged into darkness since the Starlight Megalodon crash-landed onto its surface.

The female rider began to announce herself. "I am Pirisa, Gatekeeper of the River of Souls and chosen of Naeduvis, the Life Giver! I hereby challenge you and your sword-wielding machine to a sacred duel! If we win, you godless machine riders must depart from the territory of our god-king!"

Captain Orfan broadcasted her own reply, though she merely parroted Captain Byrd’s words whispered into her ears. "I accept your duel! However, are not conquerors who have come to wrest control over your territory. We have no cause to fight to the death! Also, if my machine and I manage to win, you must treat our delegation as friendly guests and promise not to do them harm!"

Pirisa, the rider of Naeduvis, spoke something to the rider of Hokaz. The female rider eventually nodded in assent. "Your demands are acceptable! "

"Then it is agreed! We shall fight until one of us surrenders or is put in a position of submission! No one else may intervene in our duel!"

The spearman mech moved forward with its knees slightly bent in order to facilitate a dodge. The mech held out its shortspear in a steady, two-handed grip, and appeared ready to stab it forward whenever Orfan spotted an opportunity.

Naeduvis on its part stomped forward in a slow but momentous gait. Just its movements caused a lot of the Vandals and Swordmaidens present to feel intimidated.

Out of respect for their opponents and their own martial traditions, the Vandals and the Swordmaidens sent out a melee mech each.

While the two forces could have sent a nimble rifleman mech to kite these lumbering brutes to a death by a thousand cuts, such a victory would never feel as satisfying as achieving victory on their strongest aspect!

To Ves, all this emphasis on honor and fairness rankled him. Once a conflict led to a dual, it seemed that every mech pilot suddenly lost half of their intelligence! They became as rowdy and competitive as thirteen-year old kids in school!

If he was in charge of the Flagrant Swordmaidens, he would have gone for Captain Byrd’s initial suggestion and just stomp all over the natives with their superior numbers and firepower.

Barring that, he would have at least presented the rifleman mechs so that they could grind the lumbering exobeasts while constantly on the move and out of reach.

It shouldn’t be a crime to exploit an enemy’s fatal flaw!

By now, Orfan’s spearman mech reached a typical starting range from Naeduvis. The long and somewhat slender exobeast stared glowering with glowering eyes at what it considered to be a godless machine. A long tongue flickered in and out of its jaws lined with razor-sharp teeth.

The staring match stretched on for a minute before the Pirisa abruptly raised a clenched fist. "Naeduvis, the Life Giver, show these godless machines what a true sacred god can do! I call upon you to draw upon the vault of the gods!"

Inside the fast transport, Ves thought that such an announcement sounded fanciful but without substance, but Chief Dakkon suddenly cried out in alarm.

"The energy levels within the crystals embedded in its hide are being activated somehow! It’s stirring something up!"