The alien phasefighters had suffered many more losses, but the mechs had expended a lot of energy and ammunition to hold their own on the battlefield. The human machines were not able to capitalize on its advantages and had little choice but to allow the surviving phasefighters to back off and withdraw in good order.
The alien assault fleets sustained heavy damage.
Even if the cosmopolitan mechs had generated enough of a distraction to force the Obsidian Orb and the Amaranto from firing at them, the losses previously incurred by
the enemy fleets significantly reduced their firepower and ability to withstand attacks.
The orbital defense network eagerly took advantage of this weakness. A large amount of guns brutalized the surviving enemy warships within their range, causing them to break up and reduce the enemy's advantages even further!
As for the enemy phase whale and phase lords, they had failed to overcome the resistance generated by the high-ranking mechs fighting on the side of the Rubarthans. Stalling a phase lord was different from killing one. The latter demanded a lot of risk taking that could easily backfire if anything went wrong. The right move could cause a phase lord to lose his life, but the wrong move could easily cause an ace mech to get crippled or destroyed!
All of the ace pilots fighting on the battlefield possessed the resolve to die if that was what it took to kill the enemy champions.
However, this was no time for them to make the ultimate sacrifice. The orbit of Kayana VIII-E was just one of several battlefields where the native aliens had to be stopped.
Since the Rubarthan commanders and the renowned Stewards Siamesia chose to priotize holding Kayana VIII-E over permanently retiring the enemy phase lords, the ace mechs all fought in the most annoying way possible.
They engaged in hit-and-run tactics. They never allowed themselves to get close enough for the phase lords to land their attacks. They concentrated on breaking the spatial barriers of the weakest phase lords, but left them alone as long as they chose to back away.
Seeing as the ace mechs started to fight a lot more aggressively if a phase lord chose to persist and continue to fight, the native gods were eventually conditioned to withdraw whenever they lost their spatial barriers!
There were many times that ace pilots spotted many opportunities to close in and land a
killing blow.
They refrained from taking the bait. The phase lords should be as vulnerable as they
appeared.
It also took a lot of effort to be able to secure a kill against these enemies, especially when other phase lords made an effort to cover for their vulnerable peer. Therefore, nothing much of consequence had occurred. The phase lords had gotten battered despite outnumbering the enemy ace mechs, but the latter also expended a lot of energy and effort to blockade their enemies. The Lamia Kailamassu and its main adversaries appeared to be the exception.
The peak ace mech looked as if it could still keep going for many hours. It had fought at
high intensity. Its twin Saint Kingdoms had worked miracles in order to keep itself intact while enduring the attacks launched by the Divine Maw and the Descent of Hushae'Rhua.
The latter no longer tried to duel against his enemies on his own, but wisely teamed up
with the Divine Maw and the Divine Supplicant to face the enemy ace mechs together and attempt to cripple one of the annoying machines.
They failed. The Divine Maw's massive prowess, the Divine Supplicant's superdimensional shield and the Descent's Saint Piercer all failed to produce a satisfying
result!
While the greater phase whale and the
phase lord did not wish to back off from
the battlefield without making at least a few achievements, the changed that took place around them made their situation more precarious.
The gradual withdrawal of alien phasefighters and warships caused many guns to turn
against the enemy phase leaders!
Their spatial barriers had already endured enough attacks to reach their breaking points
if that hadn't happened already.
Now, the added firepower caused their defenses to deplete increasingly faster than
usual!
This was already bad enough, but when the Obsidian Orb was changing its configuration to expose the massive Star Caster Siege Hyper Plasma Cannon that was installed in its center, the phase lords would clearly come under much greater threat very soon! Seeing that their own offensive maneuvers completely failed to shake the defenses of the Lamia Kailamassu and the senior ace mechs under its protection, the Divine Maw
did not choose to be stubborn.
The Divine Maw ordered a retreat. The phase lords all disengaged in unison. They withdrew without covering each other's backs. Instead, they all behaved as if they had been given a lifeline and sought to retreat as fast as their phasewater organs could
accomplish!
"We... we won...!"
The Rubarthan defenders successfully protected Kayana VIII-E and secured their possession of the enormous debris field.
Unfortunately, this was just the first of several fights in the Kayana System.
The native aliens would be back as soon as they replenished their losses. They may have
lost a lot of expensive phasefighters and warships, but they could easily replenish them over time.
The struggle of the defenders was far from over, but the heroism demonstrated on the battlefield inspired them to fight harder next time!
Among the ace pilots that performed well this time, Saint Stark had made an incredible
impression to them all. Even if she failed to repeat her feat of killing a lesser phase lord,
she still managed to cull so many enemy warships with her energy rifle that she had become famous for this feat!
"Saint Davia Stark, the Executioner of Light!"
The proposed title instantly caught on. The Rubarthan soldiers adopted it with gusto!
"Executioner of Light!"
"Executioner of Light!" "Executioner of Light!"