The Mech Touch novel Chapter 7432

Chapter 7432: Ark’s Absence

Though the upcoming campaign called for a gathering of all Larkinson ace pilots, one of them remained conspicuously absent.

Saint General Ark Larkinson had not received an invitation to join this convergence.

Every Larkinson gathered here knew the reasons.

From a logical perspective, both the Saint Commander and the Saint General positioned themselves as strong leaders and battlefield commanders.

Having them fight alongside each other would probably cause them to butt heads with each other. Neither of the two wanted to cede control to the other.

Though Casella Ingvar possessed more formal command qualifications, Ark Larkinson was older and tended to inspire more.

Regardless, their operation methods contradicted each other. Casella demanded complete control over her subordinates while Ark demanded their worship and admiration.

Any soldiers in the field would be hard-pressed to do both at the same time!

The only way Saint General Ark could take part in the upcoming campaign was for the Larkinsons to operate two separate fleets at the same time.

Ves was not willing to split up the forces at his disposal. Invading alien territory was a perilous activity. He needed all of the strength and reserves that he could gather. He could not afford to make any further greedy decisions.

If he had to make a choice between the two ace commanders, then he would definitely pick Casella 90 percent of the time.

She was just too useful when it came to empowering the standard mech forces and improving the coordination between each separate combat asset.

That said, Ves did not dismiss his uncle Ark without consideration.

While Ark was not able to provide as much direct protection and empowerment to the regular troops, his ability to draw on their beliefs made him and his Lionheart absurdly strong.

This should be especially useful when fighting against the more powerful alien phase leaders that they were sure to encounter over the course of the campaign!

Though the Saint General was still constrained by his outdated lastgen expert mech, Ves and Gloriana had already entered the late stage of the Lionheart Mark II Project.

It shouldn’t take too long to complete this highly anticipated design project, especially if the Miracle Couple dropped all of their side projects and tightened their focus.

However, Ark’s absence at this reunion caused Ves to shelve this idea.

There were more reasons why Ark stayed away.

Most of the Larkinsons outside of the Davute Branch did not like him very much. He never hid his ambitions to remake the Larkinson Clan according to his own ideas.

From an outside perspective, it seemed as if he was coasting off his cousin’s enormous success and wanted to enjoy rewards that he did not truly earn.

Yet the primary reason why everyone agreed that it was better if Ark continued to fight alongside his best buddy Patriarch Reginald Cross was because of Casella’s personal vendetta.

The Saint Commander blamed Ark for leading her brother to his untimely death.

All logic went out of the window as soon as Casella dealt with anything related to her deceased brother.

Imon Ingvar’s tragic demise had inflicted a heavy wound in her psyche. Her breakthrough to her current rank had only exacerbated this mental scar, which meant that she could never maintain her rationality in front of Ark!

Ves and many other Larkinsons were afraid that she might even dare to challenge Ark to a duel to the death if they ever met each other in person!

The other senior leaders of the Larkinson Clan were well aware of the potential dangers and sought to keep them apart whenever possible.

Ves thanked his luck that the Saint General expressed little apparent interest in taking part in this daring offensive push.

Ark Larkinson needed to be the brightest presence on the battlefield. His Saint Kingdom and his combat approach literally depended on how much attention he could command!

Therefore, it was not a good idea for him to fight alongside too many flashy ace pilots. He operated best in small-to-mid-sized fleets where he had few competitors to vie for attention.

"It is good to see you up and running again, Isobel." Tusa restrained his fierce willpower and politely greeted the heavily augmented woman. "Did you have any trouble getting inside?"

Though the Transhumanist Faction had been generous enough to provide Isobel with a strong artificial body, she looked a lot more organic than before.

Around 90 percent of her body consisted of dense alloys. The remaining 10 percent largely comprised of her brain and the artificial skin that covered her metallic form.

She had spent enough time on rehabilitation that she managed to work away most of the artificial traces of her replacement body. Though the most perceptive individuals could still tell that there was something off about her, she at least regained much of her humanity.

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