The Mech Touch novel Chapter 7138

Chapter 7138: The Chameleon Giant

It did not surprise Ves that much that the Phase Lord Department contained a multitude of different opinions.

The Ascended Giants were just like humans or any other intelligent race for that matter. Individuals always possessed different opinions on everything. It would have been more remarkable if they completely agreed with each other on many issues.

However, the question of what the Ascended Giants were supposed to do in the future was not just any issue, but a defining subject that could lead them to glory... or ruination.

After becoming indoctrinated by the heavenly authority of the Red Ocean, their desire to stick with red humanity had weakened to a devastating degree.

That many of them openly flirted with defection and betrayal should have never been tolerated under normal circumstances!

However, once all of the Ascended Giants had ’accepted’ their own divinity, they developed such wild egos that they had lost their affection for their original race.

This was a detestable change of mind. Ves thought worse of the human phase lords for failing to stick to their duty. How come a mech designer of all people managed to resist better than all of these professional soldiers?

"The most important unit under the command of the Phase Lord Department is Keirzan Hoslin." Secret Keeper Zariel-775 continued his explanation. "As the strategos of the Ur-Titan Phalanx, he is the most powerful among the commanders and is deeply trusted by the polemarchos. The Unshakeable King is also the Oscillating Fist’s handpicked successor. This is deeply troubling for various reasons, chief among them is the Unshakeable King’s abnormally strong god complex. Every message he sends reveals how much he has accepted the belief that he is a god."

Ves snorted and crossed his arms. "The Unshakeable King is just a lesser phase lord. That hardly puts him on the same level as the ancient phase whales, let alone a god pilot. He should at least reach the third major cultivation rank before he calls himself this way."

The secret keeper inclined his head. He agreed with this description.

"The human consensus towards organisms ascending to godhood is indeed as you described, but the native aliens that our race has fought against have a different perspective on the matter. They are unfamiliar with the concept of invisible gods that act through mysterious ways. To them, gods are real, physical and enormous. Most of the intelligent alien races of this dwarf galaxy commonly regard any organism as a good as soon as even a sliver of phasewater has begun to flow through their veins. Of course, we may also be dealing with mistranslations. Perhaps their definition of a god also happens to include saints."

That may be true, but the point still stood. The native aliens elevated phase lords to godhood way too easily.

Sure, any phase lord was powerful beyond their peers, but they were not completely invincible. They could still be taken down as long as the attacking party was willing to pay a significant price.

"So the leader of the Ur-Titan Phalanx has the strongest god complex of them all. What does he want to do, exactly?" Ves asked.

"He understands red humanity’s sentiment towards godhood, and he knows that there is no future for his vision so long as the Phase Lord Department remains of our civilization. This is why he has been trying to persuade his fellow Ascended Giants that they need to join the only side that accepts the premise that phase lords are gods."

"The enemy." Ves flatly said. "The native aliens."

"Correct. The Unshakeable King is obsessed with the grandeur of godhood. He wants to be worshipped by trillions of mortals and he deeply wants to be treated as a god by his fellow phase leaders. Before his transformation into a powerful phase lord, he used to be an empathic commander, a soldier who understood his duty and a willing defender of common humans. After his transformation, he has lost all of those traits if his unfiltered messages are truly emblematic of his true views. He is a man who is willing to let 99 percent of red humans burn as long as he is able to join the Red Cabal and enjoy a protected status as an Ascended Giant as opposed to a human."

That... reminded Ves a lot of the personality changes that affected mech pilots once they crossed the extraordinary threshold.

Certain individuals hardly changed after they triggered their apotheosis. Saint Tusa Billingsley-Larkinson was a good example of this instance.

Others went through such a radical shift that it was as if they had turned into completely different people! Venerable Jannzi Larkinson practically embodied this phenomenon in his mind.

Ves never really associated the two separate phenomena with each other, but it made sense if they were related.

Whatever the case, if these messages were authentic and if they were not part of an ingenious deception scheme, then the Unshakeable King has to be eliminated or removed from power.

The longer he remained in his position, the more time he could spend on persuading the polemarchos and the other Ascended Giants that it was a good idea to defect to the Red Cabal!

"How good is the Unspeakable King’s relationship with the other Ascended Giants?" Ves asked.

While all of this sounded like an interesting puzzle, Ves suddenly recalled his determination to have nothing to do with this mess.

He put down the secure data pad. "If this is all you have retrieved from the weakest data cores, then I am not interested in exploring any further. This is stuff that your Secret Department is responsible for analyzing. There is not much reason to present it to me. I am not going to accept their challenge."

Zariel-775 stepped forward and made a gesture with his arms. "Do not be so hasty, professor. We have listened to your complaints and have resolved to be more open and transparent with you. Stay and listen to what we think. First, let me start by stating that you are in a position to make a great contribution to the Red Collective and our civilization as a whole. You have listened to what the Ascended Giants are considering. Instead of letting them go independent or defect to the Red Cabal where they will be asked to actively fight against their former race, you can keep them on our side, but only if you are accepted as their leader."

Ves curled his lips downwards. "That sounds nice, but the premise is that I win all of their bouts. It is already a pipedream to win a duel against one professional soldier-turned-phase lord. Having to do it 4 times in a row is crazy, especially if I don’t have enough time to recover from my exertion in between!"

"We have yet to accept their counterproposal." Zariel-775 pointed out. "We have noted that the Ascended Giants are all eager to fight with their ’progenitor’. We can leverage that to negotiate a more equitable arrangement. We predict that the polemarchos and his three strategoi will agree to reasonable changes to the terms. For example, we can demand that the duels will not be to the death or submission, but rather first blood or a scoring system. This should preserve your health and stamina as you or rather Sev fights back-to-back duels."

"..."

"We can also demand that your alter ego can win the leadership challenge and take over the Phase Lord Department by winning 3 out of 4 duels. We may be able to negotiate that down to winning just 2 out of 4 duels depending on the circumstances."

"That actually sounds a lot more realistic, not that my chances of winning are great to begin with." Ves quietly remarked.

"Furthermore, we can demand terms such as restricting technologies and weapons systems that the Ascended Giants rely on, while permitting tech that you rely on the most. There is a lot of room for manipulation. The more we tilt the rules in your favor, the easier it is for you to win your duels."

Ves agreed that this could make a difference, but that was only relevant if he agreed to play along, which was definitely not the case.

"None of what you are saying is enough to change my mind."

"I know. This is why the department head of the Enforcement Department is currently on his way to the Tarrasque. He will make a personal appeal that you should listen to. Please withhold your judgement until then, professor."