4765 The Subduer
Though the four Swordmaiden mechs managed to prove that a small group of standard mechs could fell the ferocious warbeasts through a combination of skill and excellent materials, they were too small in number to make much of a difference.
The presence of multiple active ace mechs in the Government District ensured that the warbeasts were doomed to perish before they could perpetrate their rampage much further.
However, just a few minutes of unbridled savagery was already enough to kill tens of thousands of additional civilians as well tear through hundreds of mechs!
No matter whether it was the former or the latter, the judicious slaughter perpetrated by the warbeasts that should have been fighting on the same side as their prey reflected badly on Davute!
Every defending mech or mech unit that did their utmost to hinder the rogue beasts turned into a hero as far as the government was concerned!
They not only saved a lot of lives at great personal risk, but also showcased the bravery and competence of the colonial state's armed forces!
Even if the mechs of the Larkinson Clan did not actually belong to the Davute Branch, many viewers watching the unfolding disaster by remote became a lot more appreciative of these machines.
Each Larkinson mech had their merits, but out of all of the standard mechs and expert mechs that threw themselves in the fight or made themselves useful, one machine in particular attracted the most attention!
The Everchanger looked like an unlikely candidate. Though the impressive green-coated masterwork expert mech possessed a fantastic appearance, the hero mech did not possess any noticeably higher combat power.
The living expert mech's Vitalus rifle was not as deadly as the Instrument of Vengeance.
The Heartsword was not as large or lethal as the Decapitator of the First Sword.
Though Ves had recently added the Scarlet Ember to the Everchanger's loadout choices, the authorities prohibited the Larkinson Clan from bringing the extremely powerful plasma sword to the parade.
As such, the mech's offensive powers were not that impressive compared to other expert mechs. This was especially the case when the clan had yet to upgrade the Everchanger with substantial transphasic upgrades to his offensive and defensive systems.
The Everchanger did not attract so much awe and admiration for his ability to take down the rogue warbeasts with great efficiency.
The Amaranto already had that covered.
What the expert hero mech did instead was to make the most of his endowments. When Venerable Joshua observed all of the death and destruction around his position, he wanted to do nothing more than to stop all of the killing!
His heart yearned for peace. "Lufa! Lend me your aid and provide sanctuary to the people that yearn for it! Let us give them a reprieve against the monsters!"
As the Everchanger changed his current active design spirit from the Golden Cat to Lufa, the warm and inviting aura of the Larkinson expert mech gained a distinctly calmer and purer character.
This was not enough, though. The range of the Everchanger's glow wasn't even extensive enough to reach the ground!
This was why Venerable Joshua leveraged his extraordinary willpower and resonated with the Iridescent Mercury that was integrated deep inside the Everchanger's frame.
This mysterious resonating exotic usually did not play much of a role in other expert mechs, but combined with the properties of a living machine, the Iridescent Mercury somehow amplified the range of the Everchanger's current glow by at least two orders of magnitude!
This vastly increased the volume of space that came under the effect of the Everchanger's tranquil glow!
The Everchanger's glow stretched for several kilometers, and while the strength of the glow effect weakened at the furthest edges, every human and alien became affected to a degree!
It was as if a superpowered version of the Pacifier had taken root in the Government District.
Though not all of the areas of the large and extensive district had fallen under the sway of the Everchanger's amplified glow, over 70 percent of the areas in chaos immediately experienced a downturn in the fighting as the warbeasts lost a lot of fervor all of a sudden!
"Rhhhuuuuughh…"
"Wwaaaahhhgh…"
"Reeeeee…"
The bioprogramming of the rogue warbeasts clearly sought to stoke their aggression as much as possible, but the forced peace imposed by Lufa clearly caused the creatures to slow down in their attacks!
That wasn't the extent of the difference that the Everchanger made.
As Lufa's glow fell onto the panicking mech pilots and civilians who were still stuck on the streets, the people in question calmed down just enough for them to regain their wits!
Their fears hadn't disappeared, but they no longer ran around without direction. The tranquility imposed by Lufa cleared their heads just enough for them to act more rationally.
The civilians sought the nearest underground shelters instead of trying to leave the Government District first.
The fleeing mech pilots slowed down and either formed up with their nearby comrades again or avoided getting in the way of other friendly units.
In short, by taking up a central position in the southern section of the Government District where the crowds had been the densest, the amount of lives that the Everchanger saved was easily on par with that of an ace mech such as the Shotgun Shogun!
Venerable Joshua and the Everchanger weren't satisfied yet. They both knew they could do more to end the killing a little earlier.
"IT IS TIME TO TEST YOUR DUAL MARKSMANSHIP SKILLS AGAIN, JOSHUA." The Everchanger's rumbling voice sounded in his own cockpit.
"I have always kept my skills in shape." Joshua replied.
He proved that by controlling the Everchanger to aim his Vitalus rifle in a specific direction.
Though the Everchanger was not able to target as many warbeasts at the altitude he was maintaining, it was still sufficient for the expert hero mech to snipe at the flying warbeasts that rose high enough to make them vulnerable to ranged attacks.
Joshua resonated with the Vitalus rifle and fired a slicer beam that cut a shallow hole through the winged beast's leathery wings.
"SHHHIIIEEEE!"
The creature faltered for a second, but by the time it recovered, the Everchanger fired its weapon yet again.
The creature got struck again and again, interrupting its previous attacks as it became too preoccupied with stabilizing its flight.
Unfortunately, the Vitalus most penetrating attacks had yet to inflict any truly lethal or crippling damage. The weapon had yet to undergo a more significant overhaul.
Joshua already expected this outcome. This was why he commanded his Everchanger to aim a second weapon at the warbeast in his sights!
The Everchanger opened fire with a pistol that exuded the breath of death. The gun made for a strong contrast when it was held in the arms of a mech that exuded a lot of vitality, but somehow the two managed to get along!
This was reflected in the energy beam fired by the Gray Lotus. The beam that contained a decent amount of death energy was wrapped with life-attributed true resonance.
This not only allowed the beam to slightly adjust its trajectory so that it struck the flying warbeast on its more damaged section of hide, but also caused the death energy to persist longer and punch deeper into the monster's flesh.
"Shiiiieee!"
The creature suffered noticeably more from this strike!
The affected pieces of flesh started to necrotize at an alarming rate.
Not only that the expanding death energies also affected the creature's feral spirit, causing it to be drained. The result was that the creature fought even less ferociously than before!
"Shhhiiiieee!"
The warbeast completely forgot about chasing after the nearby mechs and shifted towards the Everchanger!
This just made it easier for Venerable Joshua and his battle partner to strike the approaching creature with repeated attacks against its exposed front!
Though the head and skull of the warbeast was surprisingly resilient, the repeated resonance-empowered attacks from both the Vitalus and the Gray Lotus resulted in a quick resolution.
The warbeast became so exhausted in its flight that it turned into a sitting duck against other other nearby mechs that had no qualms about taking advantage of the weakness of one of these reviled monsters!
Again and again the Everchanger shot both of his guns at the same flying warbeasts.
The Vitalus rifle focused on breaching the transphasic defenses of the resilient creatures while the Gray Lotus sapped the same targets of their fighting spirit.
Combined with the amplified tranquility glow affecting a lot of streets in the Government District, the Everchanger continued to weaken one warbeast after another, causing them to become so debilitated that many more people in the vicinity were finally able to flee to safety!
Venerable Joshua hated what had happened today, but a part of him couldn't help but feel a lot more relieved about the nature of his opponents today.
"NOT EVERY ENEMY DESERVES REDEMPTION. SHOW NO MERCY TO THESE MURDEROUS CREATURES."
"You don't need to remind me, Everchanger!"
This time, he wasn't fighting against rational and sentient humans or aliens.
The creatures let loose in the Government District had no redeeming factors. They were monsters born for slaughter and clearly possessed no desire to live a peaceful life.
No matter how intelligent they may be, the fact that they were already stained with the blood of dozens, hundreds if not thousands of civilians did not allow for Joshua to show any mercy to these cruel but tragic creatures!
As Venerable Joshua continued to leverage Lufa's glow, he found himself getting more in tune with the Angel of Tranquility.
The restlessness in his heart faded as he allowed himself to get affected by Lufa's calming presence.
Even expert pilots sought peace at times. While Joshua did not delude himself into thinking that he could take shelter in the bliss of ignorance in repeated battles, it was nice for him to detach himself from the dark and depressing thoughts in his mind.
He had little doubt that this was a premeditated attack. He may not be a scientist or biotech researcher, but he knew that beasts like these did not randomly get loose on the streets, let alone hunt down humans with such relentless aggression!
As the secret grandmaster of the Anima Order, the Everchanger was able to analyze the context of this incident from the perspective of a leader.
The conclusions it drew were not exactly pleasant to hear.
"These people…" Joshua trailed off as he continued to concentrate on firing the guns at the few warbeasts that the Everchanger could target from the air. "How much do the citizens of a state have to pay for the ambitions of the ruling class?"
"COMPLAINTS DO NOT CHANGE ANYTHING, JOSHUA. IT TAKES ACTION TO INDUCE TRUE CHANGE."
"I know, but…"
"WE HAVE SPOKEN ABOUT THIS BEFORE. YOU TIME IS BETTER SPENT ON THE ACTIONS THAT YOU CAN DO RIGHT NOW. YOUR ROLE IS NOT OVER ONCE THE BATTLE ENDS. KEEP PROVIDING SANCTUARY TO THE SADDENED AND BEREAVED. THERE WILL BE A LOT OF FAMILIES WHO HAVE LOST THEIR LOST ONES BY THE TIME THIS BATTLE HAS FINALLY COME TO AN END."
The collective actions of the mechs stationed in the Government District and surroundings finally caused the incident to come to an end.
Fewer and fewer warbeasts remained in good health. The standard mechs that lasted this long either learned how to contain these powerful creatures or managed to fell most of the ones in range.
The expert mechs and ace mechs had managed to do a lot of work. Whether it was the Amaranto or the Shotgun Shogun, the powerful pilots of each of these powerful machines exerted their utmost to save as many lives as possible!
The only exception was the Indormeon which continued to guard a president who possessed the unenviable job of trying to salvage a benefit out of this horrendous tragedy.
Saint Yorvick acted more as an observer than anything else during this incident. So far, much of what he witnessed matched his expectations.
Only a few groups of mechs and pilots managed to exceed his initial projections.
"There are pockets of hope in the midst of disappointment." The ace pilot commented.
