The Mech Touch

All of the powerful heroes and gods of the human race that Joshua knew of tended to excel in only one concept or element.

The Xenotechnician was the ultimate authority on alien tech.

The Evolution Witch embodied the horrible power of biotechnology.

The Huntsman was the ultimate authority on hunting.

Joshua once imagined that he would become a powerhouse with a strong focus on life or a related subject one day.

However, the older he became, the more he knew that his future would probably look different from his initial dreams.

The power of life was more like a gateway to him. It allowed him to approach and befriend various different design spirits and other entities. The relationships he built with his talent all added to his success.

He used to think that cooperation was his strength. After all, he often took advantage of the Everchanger's ability to pick his own design spirit to channel the power of different entities.

Just like how the Everchanger was able to choose whether to fight up close or from afar depending on the situation, Joshua was able to select the design spirits that could best solve his opponents.

It was only now that he understood that power based on the help of others was ultimately not reliable enough.

Joshua had his own pride. He needed to become strong enough in his own right in order to deal with design spirits on a more equal level.

If he remained weak while all of those design spirits grew stronger, then their friendship would morph into something worse over time.

One of his greatest fears was that if he got left behind, he would no longer possess the qualifications to communicate with the design spirits anymore!

High and mighty entities such as Qilanxo, Lufa and the Phase King would no longer consider him as an equal partner, but instead treat him as a worshiper or supplicant!

That was not the kind of identity that Joshua wanted to obtain! It sounded far too demeaning and subservient to him. He could not see any way for him to become an ace pilot if the entire basis of his combat system amounted to praying to other gods for their blessings.

This was why Joshua felt so good at this time. Even as he and his companion spirit were struggling to channel multiple different E energy attributes at the same time, they were not deterred by the challenge!

"Versatility is my strength!"

His lightcast Everchanger had already gained more complexity by channeling the power of space and the power of negation.

Both elements served to blunt the Bitter Swordsman's offensive and aggression.

Even if Joshua was not too skilled in applying his power in this manner, he was quite satisfied with the results.

However, if he wanted to defeat the demonic artifact spirit in a convincing display of superiority, then he needed to do more.

This was why he turned to a familiar E energy attribute.

Joshua was no stranger to death. Anyone who fought in wars became intimately familiar with the inescapable fact that soldiers occasionally had to pay the ultimate price when they entered the battlefield.

Death was the antithesis of life. The two shared a strong and unmistakable relationship with each other.

Though Joshua had a bad encounter with death after he became delusional enough to seek it out in the hopes of breaking through, his theory was not entirely wrong.

Comprehending death should also increase his understanding of life.

Right now, Joshua had no intention of repeating his prior madness. He did not seek to make use of the power of death to promote his understanding and mastery of life.

He had already gotten rid of his obsession with life.

Instead, he chose to deal with death as if it was another resource at his disposal.

There was no need for him to consciously ascribe special meaning or significance to this universal concept.

Death was a part of existence. The same applied to other attributes such as life, space and fire.

Each of them presented a range of possibilities to Joshua.

By treating the death attribute as another weapon in his arsenal, he demystified it and inoculated himself against developing strange thoughts.

He never wanted his fascination for death to lead him to pull out his gun and press the muzzle against the side of his head!

"It's just death. Helena works with it all of the time. It's no big deal."

Despite changing his approach towards the death attribute, Joshua still maintained his caution and made sure to keep channeling the power of negation as a potential shield to defend against any potential side effects.

He soon found it difficult to channel death energy on top of all of the other energies.

Death fell under the category of negative energy, so it was quite understandable that he had to expend far more effort to attract it considering that life was his main element!

This was where Willy's adaptability came into play. At the cost of reducing his effort to channel the light element, the companion spirit was barely able to attract enough death energy that was usable!

The lightcast Everchanger grew weaker, but Joshua already accounted for this. It became harder to keep up with the Bitter Swordsman, but the use of space energy and negation energy still blunted his attacks just enough to make it bearable.

Joshua tried his best to maintain all of his current activities while also trying to channel death energy into the Heartsword.

This was quite difficult as he had already blended it with life energy and light energy. Both of them were positive energies, so they strongly rejected the introduction of death energy!

"Behave!"

While Joshua was fine with following the natural order, this time he wanted to produce a different outcome.

Negative energies normally did not mix well with positive energies. If he wanted to change this rule, he needed to make use of his willpower to change the rules of reality!

How could he possibly become the most versatile mech pilot if he was not able to mix positive attributes with negative attributes?

Even qi cultivators were able to make this happen by practicing advanced cultivation methods!

Unlike qi cultivators, mech pilots like Joshua preferred to make stuff happen by using the force of their own willpower.

"If I tell you to combine, then do so! You will get along whether you like it or not! I will not accept any other outcomes!"

His efforts worked. The more he desired to add death energy to his weapon, the lower the resistance from the other two positive energies.

Joshua felt as if he was practising a novel form of magic. Though the three elements barely got along with each other, his Heartsword began to change as a result.

"Maybe I've been underestimating this weapon all along."

He had a feeling that one of the reasons why he successfully pulled this off was because the Heartsword was inherently compatible with every E energy attribute, just like the Everchanger!

As the original melee weapon paired with the expert hero mech, the Heartsword was also designed with versatility in mind!

It was just that Joshua was unable to recognize and appreciate this advantage. He only channeled one design spirit at a time in the past, which made it so that the Heartsword did not perform exceptionally well.

He changed his mind. The unassuming sword was more suitable to him than he thought. What it lacked in killing power, it made up for it in versatility.

There were times when having the right solution at his disposal was better than wielding overwhelming brute force!

Of course, Joshua recognized that versatility alone may not be enough to defeat every opponent.

His newfound appreciation for his old mech weapon did not change his mind about the necessity of taming the Bitter Scimitar.

The weapon was designed to kill phase lords! It would probably take a lot less work and effort for him to defeat a phase lord with the Bitter Scimitar than if he relied on his old combination of the Heartsword and the Vitalus.

"Enough. It is time to end this bout!"

As the power of death settled into his lightcast Heartsword, the manifested weapon gained a distinctly sharper and more lethal edge.

Joshua still found it difficult to integrate the power of death more profoundly into the sword. The current result was barely enough for his purposes.

His eyes grew sharper as he tried to recall all of the lessons and advice he received on swordsmanship.

"I am not a swordsman, but I don't need to beat you by relying on superior skill in arms. That is Dise's routine. Versatility is my strength! Now taste my death edge!"

The lightcast Everchanger became a lot more threatening to the Bitter Swordsman after the latest change!

Although the Heartsword only contained a small amount of death energy, its forced interaction with light energy and life energy generated brand-new synergies that caused the weapon to become qualitatively stronger and more lethal!

While the Bitter Swordsman's life-fueled scimitar continued to batter at the lightcast Everchanger's fortified defenses, the Heartsword lashed out at the demonic artifact spirit and inflicted wounds that cut surprisingly deep!

The Bitter Swordman was taken aback by the enhanced effectiveness of the Heartsword!

The seemingly simple sword had become absurdly more dangerous to demonic entities like himself. Not only was it suffused with light and life, the addition of death seemed to weaponize the positive energies and make them a lot more focused towards killing beings corrupted by negative energies such as himself!

The lightcast Everchanger immediately took advantage of the Bitter Swordsman's surprise and pressed the attack. The manifested mech continually pressed forward and unleashed a flurry of sword strikes that cut into the Bitter Swordsman regardless of whether he managed to block the weapon.

The artifact spirit was not wielding the real Bitter Scimitar. He only shaped his own energies to form the weapon to make it more convenient for him to attack his target.

Therefore, attacking the manifested Bitter Scimitar was no different from attacking the artifact spirit directly!

Joshua had set aside all thoughts about defense. He solely focused on cutting the resistant and rebellious personality that had given him so much trouble and grief over the past few days.
Your journey continues at empire

"The elements are under my control!"

The Heartsword struck again and again. Even shallow wounds inflicted significant damage!

"Your weaknesses are mine to exploit!"

As Joshua gained more confidence in his performance, the lightcast Everchanger glowed brighter.

"No longer will I tolerate your defiance!"

His momentum continued to grow, causing him to completely take over the initiative and deny any breathing room to his opponent!

"You will fall in line, or you will die!"

The Bitter Swordsman cried out in pain as the lightcast Everchanger lunged forward and cut off one of his arms!

"Will you submit, or will you resist to the bitter end?"

The manifested expert hero mech finally relented in its attacks. Joshua paused his assault not because he wanted to show mercy, but because he sought to preserve the power of the Bitter Scimitar as much as possible.

After all, he still hoped to wield it against his true opponent after this ordeal!

Given how extensively the tides had turned, the Bitter Swordsman did not see much hope in making a comeback.

He had already started off strong and quickly proceeded to fight at his full strength. Yet ultimately the human expert pilot developed entirely new capabilities and managed to overpower him in a clear display of strength.

The Bitter Swordsman would have been a lot more unwilling to accept his loss if Joshua borrowed the power of others or won because of a trick.

That was not the case this time. As angry and unwilling he may be, the Bitter Swordsman was still rational enough to recognize that he had been beaten fair and square.

Perhaps a semblance of honor still remained inside his blackened heart, because he did not choose to deny or contest the outcome.

The Bitter Swordsman resentfully bowed his head. He acknowledged his loss, but he did not forget the terms of their pact.

Once he recovered and managed to grow stronger, there was no doubt that he would mount another challenge in the future in the hopes of taking over Joshua's body!

The expert pilot responded with a savage grin.

"I will be waiting for you to try again. The outcome will be the same. Do you know why? It is because I already have you figured it out. No matter what abilities you use next time, I will always be versatile enough to counter your means."

When the struggle for control formally came to an end, Joshua regained his awareness of his cockpit and his expert mech.

Although Joshua and his D-arm had fought each other for quite a while, not as much time passed in reality as he expected.

"DID YOU WIN?"

"You wouldn't be asking me this question if I lost."

When Joshua directed his attention towards the Bitter Scimitar, he felt relieved when he noticed that it had ceased all forms of resistance.

The powerful weapon had finally surrendered control to him. It rested obediently in the Everchanger's sword hand, and looked ready to be used for its intended purpose!

Joshua confidently grinned as he activated a special command.

The Bitter Scimitar immediately burned 100 grams of phasewater, causing its curved blade to glow with piercing might!

"Let's finish this fight!"