The Genie Pearl was too much of a mech for a half-trained mech pilot like Rion. The light skirmisher was a mech tailored for duels and exquisite maneuvers.

Ves guessed that Richard Kantis, its original owner, likely used his sparkling white mech to stroke his ego and impress the ladies.

What discomfited Rion the most was the customized tweaks applied to the mech. The modifications increased the Genie Pearl's fit with Richard Kantis to the detriment of other mech pilots!

As a mech designer who designed a number of custom mechs with Gloriana, Ves knew how egregious this problem could be. It was especially bad in this situation as Rion was completely unprepared to pilot such a deviating mech!

Even Ves didn't expect the Genie Pearl to be so honed for a specific mech pilot!

As a result, Rion wasted even more time until he finally gained a grip on the idiosyncratic rules that made the Genie Pearl a fitting machine to its original mech pilot.

"Hurry up, Rion!" Ves urged the dwarf. "Now that you have activated its antigrav backpack, its power source is continually being expended to negate 3.6 g's exerted onto your mech. Do you know what that means? It basically means the backpack module is single-handedly lifting almost four Genie Pearls under standard gravity!"

Ves wasn't sure how long the antigrav backpack would last. At the very least, it should last at least forty minutes before the Genie Pearl needed to replenish its energy reserves.

While the Genie Pearl was lighter than other mechs, its capacity wasn't very much. Its smaller size and torso profile meant that its backpack module also needed to be smaller. The lack of capacity also reduced the amount of energy cells carried by the mech.

All of this meant that Rion was under a lot of time pressure. It took a lot of time to replace the depleted energy cells of a mech under heavy gravity conditions. This provided their enemies with a generous window of opportunity to retaliate and take the Genie Pearl down when it lacked the ability to defend itself!

"Finish this off in one go." Ves instructed Rion. "The success of the entire rebellion rests on your shoulders. There are at least a dozen mechs standing in your way."

"That's too much!" The dwarf complained.

"You can do it!" You aren't piloting a regular mech. You're piloting a premium mech, a light skirmisher! As long as you gain control over your machine, you can outmaneuver any of the guard mechs by virtue of your supreme mobility! Look at the mech in front of you. Take out the Genie Pearl's primary armament and slay your first mech."

A forgotten knight mech rested silently in the opposite bay. Leaving this mech behind would only give the guard force an opportunity to bring this mech online!

Rion needed no further encouragement. After a brief pause, the Genie Pearl withdrew its knives and approached the dormant mech.

The light skirmisher stabbed the knight mech straight against its upper chest!

"STOP!" Ves mentally shouted at his host! "What are you doing?! Have you forgotten all of your training?! The Genie Pearl may be a premium mech, but it's still a light mech! Just because your current mech is more expensive than the knight mech doesn't mean it lost all of its weaknesses! If you stab your knives straight into the thickest part of the enemy mech, you'll only be dulling and chipping your blades! Target its weak points!"

"..Where are its weak points?"

Ves mentally palmed his face.

"Forget it, I'll point them out for you! Open your mind and accept my input. I'll highlight some sections on the enemy mech. Stab the Genie Pearl's knives into those spots. Make sure to put some extra heft into your stabs by leaning your mech forward. Light mechs are supposed to strengthen their attacks by borrowing the momentum of their mechs!"

This method was common to every melee mech, but it was especially vital to light skirmishers!

The artificial musculature of a light mech was lighter and smaller, but that directly translated to a reduction in strength.

It was very difficult for Rion to make his Genie Pearl exert enough force behind its blows! The mech missed its mark several times because the dwarf pilot was not very accustomed to attacking in this fashion!

Ves couldn't do much to help. He already advised Rion on how to perform the right movements. It was up to the dwarf to execute his instructions.

The Genie Pearl's clumsy movements caused it to take at least twenty extra seconds to cause the dormant knight mech to collapse.

This was a shamefully long time! Several times, the Genie Pearl's knife hit a thick armor section instead of a thinner joint or gap! If Rion's performance against a completely stationary opponent was already this bad, how much worse would he perform against a mech that could fight back?

Ves began to doubt whether he was right to rely on Rion to carry the rebels to victory.

Even though he was disappointed with his host, Ves refrained from showing any further dissatisfaction. He had to work with what he got. Right now, that meant he needed to guide Rion like a professional coach.

"Your dwarf buddies at the main entrance won't last much longer! Half of them are already dead. Hurry up and rescue your fellow comrades!" He urged.

"Damnit! I forgot!"

The din of fighting had never ceased. Rion had become so preoccupied with disabling the knight mech that he ignored everything else! His awareness was clearly very deficient!

After receiving Ves' reminder, Rion directed his mech to the main entrance of the facility. Due to the size of the mech, it didn't take a lot of steps for the Genie Pearle to reach the site where the dwarves were putting up a desperate fight against the infantry under the command of Richard Kantis!

The footsteps of the approaching mech had already caused the two sides to halt their firefight.

"It's Rion!"

"Thank Vulcan!"

"We're saved!"

While the dwarves whooped and cheered at the appearance of the mech, their opposition momentarily froze.

One particular figure garbed in a rich and frilly green outfit dropped his jaw. "That's.. my mech! Who is piloting my mech?! I never authorized anyone else to pilot my ride!"

"That must be Richard Kantis." Ves murmured, causing Rion to zoom in the mech's optical sensors onto the shouting fop. "Look at how small he is compared to your mech. Outside of the cockpit, he's just a human wearing an antigrav belt."

"Vulcan.. Can I..?"

"I am not a squeamish god, Rion. Do what you have to do. Only one side is able to survive after this day. Take your revenge against your oppressors by killing your first scion of House Kantis."

It was not easy for Rion to get over his considerable fears against House Kantis.

Throughout his entire life, his fellow dwarves taught him to respect the tall folk at all costs. House Kantis was the ultimate collection of tall folk in charge. They were responsible for everything and could easily decide the life and death of their entire people!

Even if Lord Richard didn't enjoy a very high status within his House, he still possessed a considerable amount of say in the running of Outpost 35! If he wanted to wipe out every single dwarf in this settlement, his underlings would likely execute those orders to the letter!

"Reach out and pick him up!" Ves goaded Rion on! "This is a good test of your balance and precision!"

Under the dwarf pilot's direction, the Genie Pearl started to move. It holstered one of its knives and reached out into the middle of the stunned and frozen guards.

The large fingers knocked away the surrounding guards like they were ragdolls. Richard shrieked and attempted to run away, but no human could outrun a mech!

With seemingly little effort, the Genie Pearl managed to envelop the defenseless noble in a cage of fingers.

Rion exhibited great care in lifting his captive in the air. Though the Genie Pearl wasn't gripping the human's body at all, Richard was still constrained from all sides!

"Unhand me, you dwarf! I don't know how you managed to unlock my mech, but that doesn't mean you win! House Kantis is more powerful than you comprehend! Desala X is just one of many planets under our control! We have so many ships and mechs in space that you will never be able to run away from my house's revenge! Your only chance of saving your sorry lives is to keep me alive! Take me hostage. I'll even order my men to stand down!"

Rion hesitated, and so did the other dwarves. As long as they leveraged their hostage to order the guards to stop their counterattack, the battle was as good as won!

However, Ves mentally shook his head.

"After all this time, do you still trust the tall folk to keep their word?" Ves admonished his host. "As long as you give your enemy a reprieve, they'll certainly rally their mechs and counterattack when you have just let down your guard!"

Rion's face hardened. He recalled his grievances he suffered at the hands of the tall folk. He remembered the stories shared by his fellow rebels. He imagined Master Gion Greybeard looking at him with sadness.

"Do it." Ves urged. "Make a statement and show everyone your commitment to fight!"

The dwarf hesitated no longer.

The hand caging the shouting noble in the air slowly began to clench.

"W-What are you doing?! Do you realize who I am?! I am Richard of House Kantis! I have noble blood in my veins! My life is worth more than all of the lives of your dwarves put together!"

His pleas fell on deaf ears. With resolute determination, the giant mech's fingers continued to clench until Richard shouted no more.

The noble blood that he was so proud of began to flow through the gaps. Every guard and rebel dwarf watching from below looked completely shocked as the drops of blood fell onto the smoothed soil.

"Desala X has been soaked by the blood of dwarves for too long." Ves solemnly said. "It is time for the blood of the innocent to be washed away by the blood of the tall folk. Let none survive."

Rion gritted his teeth. Even though he hated the likes of Richard Kantis with all his heart, he knew his action just then irrevocably doomed the lives of his fellow dwarves.

Unless they achieved total victory today, the tall folk would certainly wipe them all out!

"Fight!"

The young dwarven mech pilot finally overcame his mental block. Disabling a guard mech and crushing a tall folk noble completely caused him to lose his fears towards his enemies.

"Kill them all! Let no tall folk survive!"

The mech moved forward and slammed its feet against the hapless human guards!

Their small arms fire failed to scratch the coating of the Genie Pearl. Their servo-assisted legs failed to carry them far enough to outrun a mech built for speed!

After crushing each and every guard in sight, Ves prodded Rion to run to the outer districts.

"Trampling the guards on foot won't change the overall situation. You've wasted enough time here. Can you hear the sounds in the distance? Those are the sounds of battle wagons dying to enemy mechs!"

Rion understood the urgency. He urged his mech into a jog. Though he was late in moving out, the speed of the Genie Pearl finally showed its value.

With its antigrav backpack, the mech took seconds to traverse a distance that took other mechs minutes to cross!

Its light and agile steps breezed from intersection to intersection. Many of the guards and tall folk present in the street foolishly cheered the racing mech onwards.

None of them realized that its mech pilot was a dwarf! Every tall folk thought that Richard Kantis was finally coming to their rescue!

Ves noted the reaction of the guards and overseers with mild surprise. It seemed the communications blackout was a lot more effective than he thought! The fact that the tall folk were still unable to restore communications meant that their enemy had no clue of the Genie Pearl's true allegiance!

"We can use this…"