<h4>Chapter 2314: Bitter</h4>


    The Larkinson n finally achieved victory!


    After disabling as many superweapons as possible, forcing thousands of pirate mechs to retreat and oveing an artificially-induced anomaly with all of the horrors that followed, the attackers finally won the long and exhausting day.


    Certainly, around 3000 pirate mechs had retreated into the secure mech hangars at Ulimo. The mechs of the Dry Snakes, Xona Stalkers, Farmund''s Own, Hapid Qlinters and the Ulimo Militia sessfully rode the artificial anomaly out in their protective hideouts.


    Yetpared to an inexplicably powerful god-like apparition, these palty pirate mechs seemedpletely inconsequential to the Larkinson n.


    They aimed to wipe out the remainder of the pirate mech forces with as little losses as possible. Speed was of the essence.


    "Don''t let these pirates group up again!"


    Reacting quickly, Major Verle ordered the hundreds of Penitent Sister mechs to storm the mech hangars and wipe out everything inside before the pirate mechs had time to emerge back into space.


    Stuck in their hangars, the third-ss mechs of the various pirate groups were not only highly concentrated, but also boxed in by their environment! The ranged Hexer mechs of the Penitent Sisters easily slew them without incurring any meaningful damage!


    Of course, there weren''t enough Penitent Sister mechs to cover every mech hangar, but the surviving piratebatants experienced several hindrances due to several reasons.


    First, the piratescked critical direction at the top. The unexined absence of Grand Protector Roshaw took out a critical authority who possessed aplete overview of every pirate asset. Due to the strict hierarchical structure of the piratemand authority, none of the surviving piratemanders possessed enough authority to issue orders to everyone.


    What was particrly detrimental to the pirates was that the missing pirate lord closely grasped every secret and trump card at Ulimo Citadel! Due to a perennialck of trust, the Grand Protector never shared many of these secrets to his subordinates. Now that he was gone, every secret measure that hadn''t fallen victim yet to the Larkinson n remainedpletely unused because no one learned of their existence!


    Of course, with sufficientmunication, the pirates might be able to ovee these issues in time.


    It was too bad that their enemies did not intend to give the remaining pirates the time to reorganize their ranks!


    "The Grand Protector is dead and every major threat to the Larkinson n is taken care of. This is our best opportunity to redeem ourselves!"


    Even if the pirates were still capable of fielding 3000 mechs, now that they were dispersed and stowed in many different mech hangars strewn across Ulimo, it became critical to stop them from consolidating together.


    Though the Xona Stalker defectors that apanied Ketis and Lucky to the shrine had perished, there were many hundreds morepatriots spread throughout the core sections of the pirate stronghold! Stationed in critical positions, they surreptitiously or overtly sabotaged many critical power ormunication nodes!


    With many mech hangars cut off frommunications or losing power entirely, it became more and more difficult for the pirate officers to understand what they needed to do or understand what was happening elsewhere.


    The Mirror Raiders also stirred some trouble. They turned their weapons against the other pirate outfits in the Ulimo Militia and rapidly wiped them out at close range while their victims werepletely caught off-guard!


    "Ahh! What the hell?! What are you doing!?"


    "Damnit, these ck-and-white mechs are on the enemy''s side!"


    It had be clear that while the artificial anomaly had not inflicted significant harm to the core pirate forces, almost every pirate was left in the dark about this measure. Perhaps the Grand Protector himself never really thought that any opponent of the Hallowed Abyss Temple was able to ovee its ritual!


    Through this backdrop of chaos and uncertainty, the Larkinson n vigorously crushed the disorganized pirate forces. Thousands of pirate mechs never had the chance to showcase their might after being taken out while they were still attempting to deploy into space!


    Even the elite mechs of the Dry Snakes tragically missed the opportunity to make theirst stand. The Penitent Sisters were grief-stricken after the anomaly caused them to lose hundreds of their mechs and sisters. They vented all of their rage at their inability to defeat the grey apparitions at the pirates!


    Even if many of their mechs were running a bit low on energy and ammunition, the endurance and energy capacity of their second-ss machines was notparable to lesser products.


    Against unusual threats such as the grey abominations or the avatar of the Unending One, the Penitent Sisters might not have any effective answers.


    That did not mean that they were weak! When facing purely conventional products of technology, their Hexer heritage gave them a decisive edge! Not even the rare bridge mechs fielded by the pirate elites posed a significant hindrance!


    "Wipe out these filth as much as possible! We must avenge our fallen sisters!"


    Within just two hours, the pirates lost all of their mechs. Even so, the pacification of Ulimo Citadel had just begun.


    Spanning multiple underground levels andplexes, Ulimo Citadel epassed a lot of territory. The ordinary pirates who were in charge of managing many critical systems such as power generators, life support systems and more slowly learned that their side had lost the battle in space!


    Without the crucial support of mechs and with all of their remaining fixed defenses taken out ofmission, these pirates reacted in different ways.


    Some despaired and copsed in ce.


    A few pirates tried to offer their surrender, hoping that they might receive some mercy.


    Others went crazy and tried to tamper with every important device within reach!


    A lot of chaos ensued for at least an entire day. Though the Larkinsons could have sent in their mechs to pacify the situation faster, the sheer amount of destruction they unleashed would only leave the victors with nothing but ruins.


    Therefore, only some Larkinsons mechs entered the various underground caverns. Their presence mainly served as a form of deterrent and backup.


    Just seeing them was enough to uplift the Larkinson infantry soldiers and discourage their pirate counterparts!


    Though plenty of wily pirates managed to hinder the invaders by luring them into various devious traps, in the end their finalst gasp did not aplish much. The Larkinson soldiers coordinated extensively with the defectors of the Xona Stalkers to root out and preempt many of these desperation moves.


    Ulimo Citadel fell in earnest at that point.


    In the meantime, the task force''s fleet had closed in to retrieve the spent and exhausted Larkinson mechs. Search and rescue parties were already scouring across the debris field to retrieve the usable wrecks and see if there were any mech pilots left alive.


    The various mech forces were already tallying their losses. While the Larkinson n performed very admirably in the previous rounds ofbat, theing of the dark sphere changed everything.


    Major Verle waited for half a day after the end of the mech battle to present the numbers to Ves at his stateroom.


    "How bad?" Ves asked with a grim expression.


    "It''s bad, sir." The older man replied. "The losses we''ve suffered would have broken many outfits and mech regiments. It''s a testament to our discipline, cohesion and culture that our nsmen are still holding together. If not for the immense jubtion that erupted after Jannzi Larkinson''s dramatic breakthrough and disy of might, many of our mech pilots would have started to voice their discontent right now. As it is, achieving a bitter victory is hardly something to celebrate about."


    "Will we need to worry about any protests?"


    The major shook his head. "No. The propagandists under my charge are at work as we speak. While we cannot hide the truth of our substantial casualties, we can still steer the overall sentiment of our task force in a direction that is more favorable to us. Simply emphasizing our great aplishments while downying all of the ugly news should be sufficient in keeping ourbat troops under control. I do have to warn you that this will only tide us over in the short term. We need to act more extensively to make sure that discontent within the n doesn''t rise past a certain level."


    "Tell me the numbers." Ves ordered.


    "Let''s begin with the Avatars of Myth. Owing due to their higher-quality mechs and superior training, the Avatars have acquitted themselves fairly well. So far, we estimate that around 150 Avatar mech pilots have died."


    Ves winced at that figure. "You make it sound like it is good."


    "It could have been worse, sir." Verle shrugged. "A disproportionate amount of them were either rookies or weaker-performing pilots. While it''s unfortunate that so many individuals with high potential have perished, the remaining Avatars have each survived the gauntlet of the dark sphere. Not only have the survivors proven to be strong, the intense pressure of fending off the grey ghost mechs on their own has pushed them beyond their existing limits."


    This was what Ves had intended from the start, though there was little for him to be happy about. While the survivors of this battle would surely emerge from this excursion stronger and more battle-tested than ever, the price the n had paid was too bloody.


    When Major Verle handed over a data pad, Ves scoured the list of names. Admittedly, he hardly knew any of these people. The Larkinson n adopted too many outsiders, and Ves never bothered to acquaint himself with any of them. Now that read through the list of 150 or so deaths, the anguish he felt was muted due to the abstract way that Verle presented the information.


    That was probably deliberate on his part. By keeping the deaths as distant and impersonal as possible, Ves was spared from feeling too much guilt for the decisions that led the n to this battle.


    "What about the Sentinels, major?"


    "As you can already guess, the Living Sentinels suffered most of all. They are not only the most numerous, but also the weakest of our mech troops. Conservatively, we are looking at 250 or so deaths, though this figure might rise. Combined with the losses the Sentinels have suffered in previous battles, less than half of the Sentinel mech pilots we have brought into the Nyxian Gap have survived. Their morale has dropped the most and it will take a lot of effort tofort the survivors."


    "Understood. Please pay close attention to them. The Sentinels were never meant to take part in proactive battles. It''s a bit of an injustice to drag them along this excursion. Commander Magdalena must be pissed at me for driving so many of her men to their deaths." Ves sighed.


    The major moved on to listing out the remaining losses. "The other mech forces have lost fewer mech pilots, but that is mainly due to their smaller numbers and higherbat strength. The Battle Criers have lost around 60 mech pilots, the Vandals have lost around 30 mech pilots and the Swordmaidens have lost just 4 mech pilots."


    Proportionately, the Battle Criers suffered the most as they only fielded 160 mechs and mech pilots to begin with. As for the exceptional performance of the Swordmaidens, Ves wasn''t surprised.


    "What about the Penitent Sisters?"


    "Their situation is difficult to gauge as ourmunications with them aren''t entirely smooth. As far as we have ascertained, they have lost around 200 mech pilots. Despite their stronger mechs, they suffered substantially worse in the artificial anomaly. Our expert candidates managed to rescue many of our Larkinsons mechs in time. The same could not be said for the Hexers. An additional factor that contributed to their losses was that the anomaly actually invested most its energy in taking them down. Whatever intelligence was guiding the anomaly prioritized taking down the second-ss mechs first."


    That made a lot of sense. The subsequent performance of the Penitent Sisters after surviving the anomaly proved how overwhelming they could be despite being outnumbered by an order of magnitude!


    All in all, while the numbers were still being adjusted, Task Force Predator lost a huge chunk of mech pilots. What was worse that the Larkinsons lost even more mechs. This left them dangerously understrength against any threats until the mech technicians rapidly managed to restore some the fallen mechs back to working condition!