Six combat carriers streaked through the skies of Trieden II like flaming balls!

The surface of these vessels may have been designed to take a considerable beating, but this was something else! So many different things could go wrong that the crews aboard the ships had to cling to any shred of comfort within reach.

Even so, most mech pilots and combative Larkinsons took all of the dangers in stride. In their minds, they were made for combat and an extreme descent like this was exactly why they chose their respective professions.

"We're riding straight into hell!" Someone whooped.

"Hahaha! I haven't felt this excited since I almost died against the dark gods!"

"Going through this torture is nothing special. You should try and fight against an expert mech. Now that will give you the thrill of your life!"

The boisterous Avatars were not humorless, grim-faced grunts. Even though they maintained a professional image in front of others, internally they contained plenty of colorful personalities.

The Avatar Commander did not want to lead a troop that was devoid of character. Just like how mechs became better when they possessed a bit of life, he believed that making his units more lively was very conducive to their performance.

Melkor did not do anything to restrict this kind of talk over the communication channels. The men all needed a distraction while every descending vessel acted as if they were flying straight into a star.

He patiently checked the clocks which showed the various important timings. So far, none of the ships had fallen apart yet, but there were several more minutes to go before it was safe enough for the mechs to exit the hangar bays.

A short distance away, four slightly different Bright Warriors that had been especially modified by Ves to make them usable by non-Larkinsons were all awaiting their own turn to drop into battle.

[We didn't sign up for this.] One of the four MTA guest pilots transmitted through a secret, exclusive communication channel established by his hyper-advanced implant.

[It doesn't matter. We follow orders and fight whatever enemy is in front of us. There is no need to overcomplicate this situation.]

[Don't you realize what the Larkinsons are doing? They want to borrow our battle prowess in order to defeat their own enemies! They don't care about our Association's neutrality rules!]

[We are operating under different identities now, Miss 'Petrov'. As private citizens, there is no rule that stops us from fighting against the indigenous population.]

[Be that as it may, the patriarch of the Larkinson Clan should at least show some more consideration for our actual duties.]

[We need to experience actual battle in order to get us closer to obtaining our goals. How will we be able to do that when we don't allow ourselves to intervene in local conflicts? It's not as if there are any aliens nearby that we can fight without worrying about the consequences of our action.]

Even though the four MTA mech pilots chose to put their trust in the Larkinsons, that did not mean they were gullible fools. Far from it. They just recognized that part of their group had to make a sacrifice and see whether the Larkinsons were truly able to deliver upon their promises.

Though they were aware that the esteemed Master Willix was supportive of Ves Larkinson, they weren't mech designers so they couldn't fully appreciate what that meant.

All they knew was that the Larkinsons might have a chance of making them fulfill their greatest dreams, but that this pursuit could very well end up leading them to an early grave!

[I don't like this mech at all.] The man who currently went by Mr. Mavelon complained. [This Bright Warrior mech is decent for second-class standards, but its strengths are rather vague and it is designed with a completely different audience in mind. The limits are so low that we will only be able to show off a fraction of our strengths.]

Compared to the first-class multipurpose mechs that they were accustomed to piloting, the second-class mechs they had to work with felt like toys in their hands!

[There are ways to express our ability beyond direct piloting skill. We'll be entering the fray outnumbered, so there will be plenty of opportunity for us to show our brilliance in our own way. We must make the Larkinsons learn the difference between us and them. They have not shown enough respect to us so far. That needs to change.]

[We do not need to change anything about the Larkinsons, Mr. Detrivo. Our mission is to take care of ourselves. I do not intend to pay any mind to our hosts so long as they can bring us closer to expert pilot. Let us see how they will fare in this imminent battle. We can pass judgement afterwards.]

As the four sacrificial MTA mech pilots continued to chat with each other without too much concern about their current predicament, the overheated combat carriers finally made it through the worst phase without losing anything too major!

Their hulls had practically turned black after being roasted by an abundance of air friction. A lot of surface modules had either burnt into a crisp or been flung away by drag. Some airlocks and hull plating had come off as well during the journey, causing the combat carriers in question to expose some of their outer compartments to the ravages of the environment!

No one cared about this relatively unimportant damage. The crews stationed in those sections had long evacuated to the center of the combat carriers. As long as they managed to survive this dangerous maneuver, they could always transfer over to a new ship.

However, some of them quickly changed their minds once the vessels began to rattle again.

"We're under attack!"

The black mechs weren't blind to the hot drop from space. The Larkinsons had carefully calculated the trajectory of the first wave to end up close to the area where the Violet Estates was situated.

This meant that the burned and battered combat carriers had quickly entered combat range from the opponents the Larkinsons were targeting!

"Damn, get out of this ship now! If we wait any longer, there won't be enough left to keep us afloat!"

The bow sections of the combat carriers were designed to endure an exceptional amount of frontal damage, but that also meant that these areas had withstood most of the heat and friction acting on the hulls just before.

The integrity of the forward sections were so compromised that the captains were very eager to get rid of their payloads!

Once the combat carriers began to stabilize themselves with whatever thrusters and maneuvering systems remained working, the mechs were finally given the greenlight to deploy!

"LAUNCH!"

All of the banter stopped as the Avatar and Vandal mech pilots knew that it was time for them to get serious.

The hangar bay doors shakily slid open. Some of the mechanisms may have gotten bent out of shape, but the door systems themselves were built to be tough enough to work even if half of the ship had collapsed!

Once the openings grew wide enough, the mechs rapidly poured out with very little margin of error. The outgoing machines could easily collide against each other if they didn't manage their speeds correctly, but the mech pilots were too well-trained to make such mistakes.

Only this way ensured that all of the combat-capable machines would be able to enter the field quickly enough to fend off the violent welcome!

"The Violet Estates are still up, though their last energy shields look like they are close to reaching their limits. Don't let them finish the job!"

The ranged mechs of both sides began to exchange fire against each other.

The commanders of the unknown force of mechs did not opt to fire at the compromised combat carriers any further. Though it wouldn't take too many attacks to break them, any firepower directed against these irrelevant assets gave the mechs of the Larkinson Clan more opportunities to dish a lot of hurt!

With the combat carriers quickly trying to curve away, a force of around 240 mechs sorted themselves out as they flew towards the besieged Violet Estates.

The Bright Warriors armed with rifles fell behind the rest as they focused more on firing their weapons and evading incoming attacks.

Melkor and Isobel were among this group. Both of them fired laser beams or positron beams at targets that were dozens of kilometers away. Their relatively high altitudes gave them a good angle against their opponents, but that also allowed the black mechs to fire back without suffering any obstruction!

"Damn, I'm hit! I need cover!"

"Focus on my targets as much as possible. We need to wear down their numbers quickly."

"My flight system has been struck!"

The rifle-wielding Bright Warriors were quickly wearing down their opponents with their strong, luminar-augmented rifles.

It was a pity that Ves lacked the time equip them all with the upgraded versions of the crystals, but the basic ones already granted them a formidable bump in firepower.

Certain lucky individuals like Melkor and Isobel were able to inflict more damage for that reason. Though Melkor wasn't putting his gift to that much good use considering his need to maintain situational awareness, the female expert candidate inflicted one telling blow after another!

One black mech lost its rifle. Another fell down as one of its legs no longer worked. More suffered serious damage to their various key systems as Isobel precisely targeted the weak points that Ves and the other mech designers had already identified beforehand!

Though the damage they dealt was quite effective, the black mechs were no slouches either.

One important aspect about their designs was that they were amphibian in nature!

This had very wide implications.

The black mechs possessed no flight capabilities. In exchange, they were able to submerge underneath the water whenever they wished. This was quite effective whenever they wanted to avoid any further incoming energy attacks.

In addition to that, the black mechs were also able to dump all of their heat into the surrounding water at much higher efficiencies than if they tried to transfer all of their heat into open air. The enemy mechs did not have to worry about overheating at all, which gave them quite a substantial advantage if they utilized any energy weapons!

The lack of necessity in making them flight capable also caused them to be heavier and more massive than their aerial and spaceborn counterparts. Even if the quality of their armor systems were substantially worse than the alloys cladding the Bright Warriors, their thicker shells gave them a lot more buffer.

All of this caused the ranged duel to proceed a lot more evenly than the Larkinsons hoped.

"These cheating mechs are diving back underwater whenever we are about to down them!" One Avatar complained.

"Hit them with synchronized volleys! Don't give these black turtles any opportunity to retreat before it's too late."

"Damnit! Their knight mechs are incredibly thick! Fighting against amphibian and aquatic mechs is an enormous chore."

Dozens of mechs from both sides had already succumbed or been rendered combat ineffective within just a single minute! The pilots mostly managed to survive the onslaught as the mechs they piloted were generally tough enough to give them enough time to retreat or eject their cockpits.

Still, that did not take away the fact that the first wave of Larkinson mechs were not able to crush their opponents in a dominant fashion.

This battle could have proceeded a lot differently if the Larkinsons were able to drop in with 2000 mechs at once!

Even so, neither Commander Melkor nor any of his men had any intentions of backing off. They continued to soar forward in order to confront the black mechs as directly as possible!

"Avatars of Myth!" Melkor roared over the command channel as he let the thrill of the moment overtake his calm! "Who are we?!"

"WE ARE LARGER THAN LIFE!"

"What do we do!?"

"WE FIGHT LIKE LARKINSONS!"

"What shall become of our enemies?!"

"OUR FOES SHALL FUEL OUR ASCENSION!"