The Mech Touch novel Chapter 7204

Chapter 7204: The Brutal Clash

Many observers, particularly the soldiers and warriors among them, grew disappointed at the Dark Apostle’s performance.

His lack of skill in unarmed combat, knife fighting and general combat became painfully evident.

His shortcomings hadn’t been as pronounced in the last 3 duels due to his heavy reliance on technology, but now that he had lost almost all of his gear, there was no way to hide them anymore.

His flaws became incredibly obvious to those who knew a thing or two about actual fighting!

Sure, there were still plenty of people who understood that their prospective new leader was not supposed to be able to match a professional soldier in the art of combat.

The Dark Apostle was supposed to be a mech designer after all. He was also fairly young. It would have been unreasonable to assume he could match the Oscillating Fist in terms of martial prowess.

Yet his performance was still very bad compared to how he previously fought. He was nowhere near as slick and proficient as when he wielded a spear in the previous duels!

"This is embarrassing..." Ves palmed his face. "Can’t you make it even more embarrassing for myself and my other self? How will we ever command the respect of the Ascended Giants if we are getting our butts kicked to such an extent?"

"Trust me, my son." The Oblivion Empress softly spoke to him. "Showing weakness and vulnerability every now and then is not always detrimental. The two of you are not qualified to dominate the Ascended Giants by projecting invincibility such as the man you wish to usurp. It is better for you to gain their loyalty through a combination of sincerity and empathy, just as you have done with the Larkinson Clan."

"That makes a certain degree of sense, but at least let us make this choice ourselves!"

"I am doing this for your own good." She mercilessly declared.

While they talked, the Dark Apostle continued to suffer one setback after another.

The initial punch to the chest was probably the signature move of the Oscillating Fist.

Even without his high-tech gauntlets, he was able to rely on pure technique along with a bit of phase lord magic to land punches that shook his adversary’s body.

Though the vibrations were not particularly strong, they were still able to cause bruising and other forms of damage on organs that were much less able to take hits!

The Dark Apostle winced and groaned in pain several times as he failed to prevent the Oscillating Fist from landing another punch to his sides.

It felt as if one of his kidneys was about to explode!

If not for the fact that phase lord bodies were naturally big and resistant against damage, he was sure that the last punch would have incapacitated him long enough to let the Oscillating Fist finish him off entirely.

Fortunately, he was able to resist the pain just enough to back off and swipe his knife in front of him in a defensive manner.

The Oscillating Fist made a frustrated expression. It was clear that he could have made his punches snappier and strike with greater force if he wasn’t being held back by his slew of injuries.

Still, he was becoming more used to his condition with every passing minute. The more he moved, the more he was able to understand his current limitations. This allowed him to plan ahead and plot more effective moves against his inexperienced opponent!

This did not escape the Dark Apostle’s attention. He was forced to rethink his approach towards this fight.

Simple enthusiasm did not cut it. While his body was still in a much better condition, all of his attempts to strike at his adversary’s weak points or simply land a cut anywhere on his opponent’s body had utterly failed.

Why was this the case?

Bad technique was just an excuse. Due to his acquired weapon skills, he gained a general understanding of combat that was universal no matter what sort of weapon he wielded.

Even if he restricted himself to simple stabs and slashes, he still should have been able to cut his adversary at least once.

As he continued to fly around while trying to keep his adversary at a distance, the Dark Apostle tried his best to deduce why he was truly failing.

With a powerful opponent right on his tail, he quickly managed to come up with a possible theory.

He was fighting too cautiously.

His true body was much more intact and in a better shape than his adversary, yet he tried his best to maintain his distance and launch half-hearted attacks for fear of overcommitting.

This was not a bad approach if his opponent was less skilled and lacked the solutions to counter his attacks, but the Oscillating Fist definitely did not fall into this category!

His approach placed a greater emphasis on technical fighting as opposed to brute force.

In other words, the Dark Apostle tapped into his weaknesses while playing into the Oscillating Fist’s strengths!

How could he turn this around?

By adopting the opposite approach!

A metaphorical lightbulb suddenly lit up in his head.

He briefly glanced at the manifestation of his mother. The Dark Apostle may have figured out one of the lessons that he was supposed to learn from this fight.

When two irreconcilable enemies were locked together in a cage, the one who came out alive was not necessarily the one who possessed the greatest skill, but the one who was most willing to put everything on the line for the sake of winning!

After the Dark Apostle received this miniature enlightenment, his eyes narrowed. He no longer thought about doing anything fancy anymore.

He immediately turned around and let out a roar as he charged straight at the Oscillating Fist!

His experienced opponent immediately picked up on his change and tried to punch the Dark Apostle straight in the head!

If that fist generated an oscillating force that affected his brain, then the Dark Apostle would most certainly lose!

He therefore swiped his knife upwards in an attempt to intercept the fist.

The older fighter diverted one of his fists, but still managed to land his other fist into the Dark Apostle’s stomach!

Blood spurted from the Dark Apostle’s mouth!

He could feel some of his phasewater organs incurring serious damage from this punch!

Yet he still grinned as his Murder Knife managed to sink into one of the shoulders of his opponent!

The Dark Apostle tried to cut a deeper wound, but found it difficult to do so as the resistance was too great. He was forced to pull out his weapon and attempted to land a second stab, but his bleeding opponent took advantage of his proximity to hunch over and unleash a flurry of punches that continually struck his abdomen and sides!

The rapid series of punches did not land with as much oscillating force, but the damage they inflicted rapidly accumulated!

The Dark Apostle kept spurting out blood from his mouth as his torso gained more bruises while many of his internal organs were screaming in pain!

Yet despite all of this suffering, the Dark Apostle forcibly withstood the punishment.

This was not easy!

The main reason why he was able to bear it for the time being was that Ves possessed a surprisingly high pain tolerance.

Much of that had become imprinted into his true body, which grew and evolved with the prospect of suffering further pain in the future.

The Dark Apostle benefited from this. He even found that subsequent applications of pain felt weaker on a subjective level.

"ENOUGH OF THIS! DIE FOR ME, YOU STUBBORN OLD FOOL!"

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