5417 Underneath the Storm

"Madness!"

Alexa helplessly watched her willful and apparently insane superior donned his armor and exited the control tower in a hurry.

"Miaow!" Clixie reacted with alarm at Ves' departure.

"Meow?"

"Miaow miaow!"

"Meoooow."

Clixie hissed and repeatedly smacked Lucky's head with her paw.

"Miaow miaow miaow!"

"Meooow! Meow meow meow..."

Lucky reluctantly left his comfortable perch and phased through the wall so that he could follow after Ves.

As Ves went outside and was just about to fly towards his latest work, a pair of first-class mechs barred his way.

The soldiers of the Bluejay Fleet had been tasked to protect their charge. That meant that they sometimes had to go as far as to protect their principals from their own foolish decisions!

"My apologies, professor, but we cannot allow you to come any closer. The threat posed by the lightning storms are too much for your defenses. We also cannot guarantee that we can teleport you away or shield you from any potentially lethal attacks."

Ves grew annoyed at the obstruction. He knew it was not their fault for doing their duty, but every second they held him back was one too many as far as he was concerned!

He did not bother to talk to the RA mech pilots directly.

"Teh! Jovy. Get these mechs out of my way! This is too important for me to miss out upon!"

"The risks are too great, Ves. You do not know what you are-"

"DO NOT GET IN MY WAY!" Ves roared inside his closed helmet. "You are a smart man, Jovy. You should have an inkling how much I care about my new mech. It is more than just a disposable machine. It is a labor of love and a product of my passion. I have invested so much of myself into it that its meaning is far too great to me. If you dare to stop me from helping it tide over this storm, then I will seriously question whether you have the heart of a true mech designer."

Ves appealed to Jovy as one mech designer to another.

Only the people of their profession understood best what it meant for one of them to become so invested in a mech.

If Jovy's priority was to keep Ves safe, then the powerful first-class multipurpose mechs would never let a tier 3 galactic citizen expose himself to such a crazy risk.

However, if Jovy understood how much a mech like this benefited its developer, then he should not deprive a mech designer of his ability to support and observe his new creation.

"Let me go already." Ves impatiently demanded. "I know how to take care of myself. This is hardly the first danger that I have subjected myself to. I am not in the habit of joking around when it comes to my life. "

Jovy eventually relented after a few seconds.

"Very well. We are willing to defer to your judgment, as dubious as it may be. You should know that our mechs will remain close at hand and ready to move at any second. If we determine that you and your mech will not be able to handle the storm any longer, then our mechs will forcibly carve out the cockpit from the rest of the mech frame if that is what it takes to evacuate you to safety."

That was good enough for Ves. "Fine. Let me proceed now. My mech is not sufficiently prepared for this event and needs my assistance and guidance as soon as possible."

The two first-class mechs helped to escort Ves towards his mech.

"Meow!"

Ves briefly reacted with surprise when Lucky chose to come along as well.

It was not all that bad for Lucky to accompany him this time. The gem cat was a lot tougher than he looked, and his archetech construction happened to be highly resistant towards electrical damage.

Even if Lucky's existence was in danger, the cat's ability to survive was stronger than that of Ves!

"Haha, let's ride this storm together, buddy!" Ves boisterously said.

"Meow..." The gem cat sounded a lot more reluctant about this endeavor.

The sense of oppression grew stronger as they neared the five elements mech.

The machine had already been struck by lightning bolts several times, and that had caused the tough transphasic hyper armor plating to show more and more signs of surface damage.

Ves worried more about the internal damage. The armor system should have done a good job at preventing the tribulation lightning from frying most of the electronics, but he was afraid that a few nearby systems had already shut down from all of the excess current.

Once he and his cat got close, they met up with the armored form of Major Simon Jankowski.

"Professor." The most senior mech officer of the Bluejay Fleet curtly greeted. "Please wait for the next lightning bolt. We should dash inside as soon as it has landed onto the mech."

The piloting suit of the Red Association possessed a lot of advanced functions. In light of the current dangers, the pilot had opted to mount additional armor and other defensive modules onto his body. This caused his suit to bulk up to the point where it was covered by modular armor.

CRACK!

Another blinding golden flash of heavenly might instantly descended from above and struck the five elements mech!

"Meow!"

Experiencing this lightning tribulation at close distance was a completely different experience!

The thunder that buffeted against Ves' armored form seemed to shake him to his core. Both his bones and his spirituality had become rattled by the power of this strike.

"Move move move!"

"Meow meow meow!"

Two humans and one gem cat quickly slipped inside the cockpit that Alexa had just opened by remote.

As soon as they slipped inside, the cockpit slid shut again, forming enough defensive seals to prevent the occupants from getting directly exposed by the force of lightning.

Major Jankowski already took his seat and began to boot up the five elements mech without any delay.

"I have accrued an extensive amount of piloting experience, and I have a high adaptability towards piloting unfamiliar mechs. However, it has been decades since I last piloted a second-class mech. What do I need to pay attention to when controlling your machine?"

The five elements mech activated remarkably quickly. It was as if the powerful living mech was already aware of the urgency and sought to speed up its activation as soon as possible.

Midway through the activation process, everyone inside couldn't help but recoil when a powerful force struck the machine yet again!

CRACK!

"Meow!"

The entire cockpit shook as if a powerful explosive had detonated at close range! The entire metallic machine rattled for a second before subsiding again.

Though Ves sensed that his mech had held up decently well, it had likely incurred even more damage.

"There is no way the inherent technical properties of this mech are strong enough." Ves emphasized once the tense moment had passed. "The full explanation is a bit too long, but I have concluded that the only way that my machine can make it through is if it leverages the power of the five elements."

"That is a blindspot in my skill set."

"Don't worry. I have already taken that into account when I made this work. The living mech and its semi-autonomous fey will take care of this burden. Do not try to assert control over everything. Trust in my mech. Listen to its suggestions and give it enough room to take independent action if it sees fit to do so. Just think of it as working together with an advanced AI system."

CRACK!

The power of this next lightning bolt had ramped up considerably since last time!

Fortunately, Major Jankowski had activated the modified Fey Project fast enough to activate its azure energy shield!

Even though its specs were not as good as the energy shield of the Larkinson Edition of this mech line, its defensive power was still superior to the transphasic energy shields of old.

The highly synergistic combination between hyper technology and transphasic technology happened to be so good that the azure energy shield actually managed to block the entire strike!

However, when Ves accessed a port built into the side of the cockpit and used his backdoor to gain administrator access over his work, he grew concerned when he glanced at the data readings.

"The azure energy shield has taken a nasty hit." Ves commented. "It should be able to block a few more strikes, but it will not be able to last much longer."

Major Jankowski frowned. The azure energy shield was the strongest defensive tool of the Fey Project.

"What do you advise?"

"Do you feel the multitude of energies surging around this mech? Those are the five elements. The lightning bolts are causing a bit of them to disperse, but there still still be enough for your living mech to work with. You need to work with it to form a more effective defensive barrier, either by strengthening the azure energy shield or the armor."

"I am not versed in these abilities." The RA mech officer gritted his teeth. "Only high-ranking mech pilots can effectively wield energy to amplify the performance of a mech. I can sense the living mech at work, but it is scrambling for solutions as well."

Ves briefly closed his eyes and placed his armored hand against the side of the cockpit.

"Let me guide you, then. I understand these energies a lot more, and I can guide you all into shaping them in useful forms."

"Mrow."

Blinky emerged from Ves' head and hesitatingly looked around.

"My companion spirit will help out the fey as they do their jobs. The most important priority at this moment is to channel more power into the water fey. It is equipped with an azure energy shield of its own and can amplify our defenses by utilizing water energy."

CRACK!

The active azure energy shield had become less stable as the lightning strike had taken a toll on its reserves.

Ves became subjected to a greater sense of urgency.

At the same time, he became dissatisfied with the current arrangements.

"Wait. Don't rely solely on the azure energy shield. You need to strengthen the armor system of the Fey Project as well. You need to reinforce the mech frame with more metal energy by relying on the affinity of the main body. There might not be enough metal energy to resist the lightning bolts that will come down later, so you need to nurture it with earth energy."

That caused Major Jankowski to grow confused. "Will that truly work, professor? I do not mean to doubt your theories, but they sound closer to superstition than sound and proven science."

CRACK!

"I know how you feel, but it is precisely because of these whacky old theories that has triggered this lightning storm in the first place! I do not make the rules here. We have no choice but to work with what we have. Just work together with my mech and try it out, okay?"

While Major Jankowski quickly worked with his living mech to manipulate the fey and the surrounding E energies, Ves was free to do his own work.

A gleam shone in his eyes as he used his deep access to his own creation to transmit a large amount of instructions that caused the internals of the drone mech to shift in unusual ways.

He needed a bit of help in order to produce his desired outcome. He had designed his Fey Project a bit too well. The cockpit of his new creation was so well protected and isolated that there was no way he could fulfill his secondary goal.

"Lucky."

"Meow?"

Ves transmitted a schematic of the Fey Project that highlighted over a dozen different components to his gem cat.

"I need you to phase through this mech and either cut or move these components. Can you do that, Lucky?"

"Meow!"

"Oh, come on! It's not that dangerous! It will be quick. Even if you get shocked, the power won't be high since much of the current can't reach the internals. Just do it, Lucky. It will be good for you as well! I promise!"

CRACK!

His reluctant cat went to work and phased through the cockpit in order to make the necessary modifications.

While Lucky completed his assignment as quickly as possible, Ves began to withdraw a multitool from his Unending Regalia and began to make physical modifications to the side panel.

"What are you doing, professor?" The RA mech officer asked with evident concern.

"Ah, you will see. Don't worry. It shouldn't be dangerous."

A minute and a lightning bolt later, a frazzled-looking Lucky eventually returned to the cockpit.

"See? You're still fine. I told you that my Fey Project is well-shielded enough."

"Meeeeeoooww..."

Ves ignored his gem cat's complaints and quickly completed his little project.

In the end, Ves had managed to cobble together four rods, two of which were sticking out from the side while the other two stuck out from the floor.

When Ves moved his armored form so that all of his limbs came into contact with the rods.

"Jankowski, shut off the azure energy shield for a moment. You need to give it a rest anyway. Let the armor absorb the next hits."

Ves waited until the skies launched another attack.

CRACK!

This time, the cockpit suddenly became charged with a bit more energy as a small fraction of that tribulation lightning actually shot through the upper rods, ran through the Unending Regalia and exited through the lower rods!

"Yes! This is it! This is the power!"