In a way, the Swordmaiden expert pilot felt thankful for Venerable Rebecca for teaching her the importance of developing more defensive techniques.
With her sword as the instrument of her will, Venerable Dise came up with one trick after another.
She spontaneously adapted her existing sword style and created a host of new extraordinary techniques that defended her expert mech against attacks in different ways!
In one moment, a shield of pure sword energy blocked the electrical storm.
In another moment, the Decapitators swept out and actually managed to cut the two solid projectiles that the Shockshell fired from its shoulder-mounted gauss cannons!
As Venerable Dise continued to dredge the less explored parts of her power in order to generate new defensive techniques, her opponent had long grown annoyed at the blatant experimentation.
Did this Larkinson expert pilot truly think that Venerable Rebecca was here to train her own opponent?!
“Don’t get complacent!” Rebecca roared as the Shockshell charged forward and slammed its shock hammer against the First Sword!
The expert swordsman mech had to interrupt its lightning rod stance in order to block the hammer from striking its frame.
Even though the Decapitator successfully stopped the hammer from striking the Larkinson expert mech directly, the resulting electrical explosion engulfed the First Sword and fried some of its more exposed sensor modules!
However, it became increasingly harder for Venerable Rebecca to damage the deeper and more important components of the First Sword!
This was because the heavy pressure exerted onto Venerable Dise finally caused the proud and strong swordswoman to compromise on one of her beliefs.
As a Swordmaiden, Venerable Dise had always been taught to believe in her own strength.
A Swordmaiden must be strong because no one else could be counted upon for help.
At most, only other Swordmaidens could help a Swordmaiden, but it was best not to drag down fellow sisters due to lack of strength.
If one was weak, a Swordmaiden had no one to blame but herself.
Venerable Dise never imagined that she would be put in this position. For years, she had embraced the identity as an expert pilot and a hero of the Larkinson Clan. Her name was synonymous with the word strong and her melee dueling capabilities ranked among the top of her peers!
Being driven to this dire state by Venerable Rebecca Andus and her Shockshell was a considerable blow to her ego and her vanity.
As it became clear that her current measures were not sufficient to keep the First Sword going, Venerable Dise fell into a difficult dilemma.
Should she continue to believe in her own strength in the hopes that she could find a way to reverse the tide by herself, or should she take a step back from her own conviction and accept the need to rely on help?
At this crucial moment, Venerable Dise’s will to survive and continue to protect her fellow Swordmaidens and Larkinsons exceeded her selfish desire to develop her own strength under the most difficult crucible possible!
It was as if Dise flipped a mental switch.
“Qilanxo! Assist me in battle!”
A silent roar rang through Venerable Dise’s mind as she unabashedly embraced Qilanxo’s influence.
The First Sword glowed brighter as it channeled the power of a design spirit!
Though Qilanxo was only able to effect the First Sword to a limited degree, the faint spatial barrier that hovered over the exterior of the expert swordsman mech substantially weakened the extraordinary properties of the incoming attacks, thereby allowing the Unending alloy armor plating to resist the blows with greater ease!
Venerable Dise could feel her mentality becoming more animalistic as her bond with Qilanxo grew stronger during this difficult period.
Her swordplay became more savage and less controlled, but the power of its strikes not only became stronger, but also dealt more damage against the Shockshell!
After a long period of laying low, Qilanxo finally gained an opportunity to display her might on the battlefield!