There were many theories that attempted to explain the variables that influenced the breakthrough chances of a high-ranking mech pilot.
While no one had managed to deduce the full and accurate formula or model that explained all of the variables that could affect this low-probability event, plenty of people had formed a lot of guesses and unproven theories.
Ves had developed his own understanding of what it took for mech pilots to break through.
The Heaven Earth Man Trifecta developed by Ketis possessed strong logic, but it was too general and did not have good ways to quantify its variables.
It was ultimately incomplete. It was a good theoretical model when expert pilots used it to strengthen their foundation and underlying qualifications to step up and become a greater version of themselves.
However, once they had done all they could to improve their breakthrough conditions, they still had to work hard to actually trigger this life-changing event.
That was an entirely different challenge.
Much of it was a mind game of sorts. Expert pilots had to push themselves to the limit. and exceed it just enough to prove themselves worthy of becoming an ace pilot, but not too much to the point where they would likely die before succeeding!
As the Viola Magnifica System continued to become engulfed by war and death, an awfully large quantity of expert pilots that had ceased to grow any further had all chosen to place their trust in their recently improved foundations and seek greater challenges by confronting the dangerous phase lords!
Venerable Orfan did everything she could to stay alive while proving her valor in battle.
She piloted the Riot with greater skill and courage than in the past. The former soldier of the Bright Republic had grown far over the course of her service in the Larkinson Clan.
Though she had never let go of the traits that defined her personality, she had tried her best to become more responsible and more deserving of the help that the Larkinson Clan had provided her over the years.
Rosa Orfan realized that she could have never raised herself so high without the assistance of Ves Larkinson and the Larkinson Clan.
While she most certainly relied on her own qualities to become as powerful as she was today, she did not want to become a hero whose accomplishments were largely attributed to external factors.
She wanted to become strong enough to stand on her own two legs.
This was one of the reasons why she purposefully rejected the decision to wait until she received the Riot Mark III.
Venerable Orfan wanted to become a saint by relying on her own merits rather than attribute most of her success to the virtues of her luxuriously upgraded mech.
As the plasma sword wielded by the opposing orven phase lord once again whipped close enough to her scrambling Riot to pressure his resonance shield further, Venerable Orfan realized that she could not keep this up for long.
A few more near-misses like this would eventually cause her machine's resonance shield to collapse entirely.
The overstrained components of the Riot Mark II were already whining and groaning far beyond their usual levels due to how extensively Orfan pushed their performance.
She could not afford to tackle this challenge by leveraging 100 percent of the Riot's strength. That was simply not enough to make him last against Zren-Divar.
As the fight dragged on, the orven phase lord grew wise to the tricks of his
tormentors.
The Valkyrie Krista and the Valkyrie Ursa were certainly annoying, but their attacks did not hit particularly hard.
Their compact luminar crystal rifles hardly stressed Zren-Divar's spatial barriers. Only their spear charges could inflict enough damage, but they needed to build up momentum first before their attacks could strike hard enough.
The only other way for the two Valkyrie expert mechs to deal a lot of damage was to stay close and repeatedly strike their spears at the spatial barrier.
As annoying as it was for Zren-Divar to turn around and swipe his plasma blade in the direction of the two Glory Seeker expert mechs, he still did so just to chase them away for a time!
The Valkyrie Krista and the Valkyrie Ursa may not be as old as the Riot, but the two machines were not designed to resist plasma weapons of this scale either.
What stood out from their combat approach was that Venerable Olivia Remus and Venerable Eona Ballentine took fewer risks when attacking the orven lesser phase lord.
Whereas Venerable Rosa Orfan frequently put her Riot within striking distance of the enemy's deadly plasma sword, the two Valkyrie mechs only dared to attack up close when Zren-Divar's back was facing their direction!
The short delay created by turning around to slash the plasma sword at their positions gave them enough of a delay to pull their lighter and more maneuverable. machines out of the way with a much wider margin of safety!
It was pretty clear to outside observers such as Ves and Casella that the duo of Hexer pilots that had become known as the Handmaidens of Death did not deliberately push ond their limits in the hopes of trigger their breakthroughs
They were more than content with doing their duty and using the capabilities of their mid-tier expert mechs to harass and delay their opponent. Venerable Remus and Venerable Ballentine never thought about defeating their adversity in the first place. They already accepted the truth that their skills, experience and most importantly their expert mechs were not up to standard yet for them to realistically defeat this
kind of opponent.
"We're outmatched, outgunned and outnumbered. Rather than hoping to defeat this phase lord with the three of us, we are better off trying to delay this big boy. If we are lucky, the other expert mechs have beaten back another phase lord and can team up with us to drive Zren-Divar away as well."
"If no help is forthcoming, then at least we have done our best to delay and distract this phase lord as long as we could. There is no need for us to go all-out and take risks when Madame Gloriana Wodin has already promised us to upgrade our expert mechs in the next couple of years."
The Handmaidens of Death clearly chose to make rational decisions. Even if they knew that this was not conducive to breaking through, Venerable Remus and Venerable Ballentine were not in a hurry to become ace pilots quite so fast.
Both the Larkinson Clan and the Hex Army already accumulated a number of ace pilots. That reduced the pressure of expert pilots such as the Handmaidens of Death. They could take the time to wait and polish their skills further.
Once the pair received their upgraded expert mechs, then they would try and push their limits, knowing that their superior machines could keep up with their ambitions.
While it was well within their right to adopt a more prudent and patient development strategy, the problem with taking so few risks was that their effectiveness in
distracting their current adversary was quite limited!
Zren-Divar had already taken their measure. In his alien eyes, the two Valkyrie expert pilots were cowardly weaklings who lacked the resolve to win.
The pilot of the Riot was different. He could feel the intense hostility and determination from the human inside the cockpit. The false god of the Larkinson Clan
was fully committed to defeating him during this battle.
This was why Zren-Divar took the threat posed by the Riot seriously. The expert
spearman mech might not be as powerful as the other expert mechs on the battlefield, but when piloted by an aggressive human who did not fear him as much as she should,
the Riot was doing a far better job at pinning him in place!
This was why their bout developed into an asymmetric contest where both sides worked to make their enemies falter by any means possible.
Neither of the two could expect to receive much support from their comrades and
allies.