The Mech Touch

Chapter 7210: A New Dawn for the Ascended

Gloriana could not understand.

She could easily deduce the value of the two golden enlightenment fruits.

The Tree of Possibilities had extracted the proudest skills from the two defeated Ascended Giants and condensed them into two easily digestible packages.

They were made for human phase lords. The harsh physical requirements needed to absorb them could not be matched by anyone bound by mortal constraints. Expert pilots and ace pilots simply could not replicate the methods given how they required transcendent physiques, which they did not possess.

“You don’t understand.” Ves said. “Every fighter has their own combat system. Their training, their physical aptitudes, their talents, their obsessions and their field experiences all shape them into different organic combat machines. Just like mechs can be divided into swordsman mechs and rifleman mechs, fighters can be divided into many different categories and specializations. These two golden fruits correspond to entirely different approaches to combat than what the Dark Apostle and I prefer.”

His wife placed her hands on her hips. “That does not mean that these fruits are irrelevant to you. I can understand that you lack the time and interest to master the methods imparted by these two fruits, but you can still draw a large amount of lessons from them which you can use to supplement your own ‘combat system’. Aside from that, it is still handy to know how to take a hit and punch with greater effectiveness in an emergency. You do not have the time to develop these skills from scratch. Swallowing the fruits will at least allow you to master the fundamentals, enabling you to skip decades worth of basic training.”

He acknowledged her points, but did not weigh them as highly. He still shook his head.

“Much of the precious contents of the fruits will go to waste if I ingest them. In my opinion, it is best to reserve them until our Larkinson Phalanx is up and running. By that time, I can pass these fruits onto the strategos and his deputy if they are compatible with the fruits. That will quickly allow them to expand or deepen their combat systems and help them dominate the battlefield.”

Gloriana definitely did not like the sound of that! She still could not understand why Ves would pass over such an excellent opportunity to strengthen himself given how much he struggled to defeat the Oscillating Fist at the end.

“You are making a mistake.”

“Whether that is true remains to be seen, but I am sticking to my own logic, honey. Just because the golden enlightenment fruits are in my hands does not mean I should swallow them straightaway. I already have my own plan which entails combining spearmanship, the tech of a Polymetal mech, the mysteries of darkness qi manipulation and a bunch of other stuff. I will have to coordinate this with the Dark Apostle, but considering he is another me, I do not think he will disagree.”

His wife stared at him as if she did not believe in his words. “We shall see. I will not stop him if he decides to ingest the golden enlightenment fruits. We need to keep the best for ourselves.”

Ves really hoped that the Dark Apostle would not make this mistake. He had been serious when he talked about the combat system that he had planned out for himself and his alter ego. For efficiency’s sake, it was much better for himself and his armed forces if those fruits ended up benefiting other human phase lords.

What he did not tell Gloriana was that he did not mind it if he passed the golden fruits onto a trustworthy Ascended Giants that did not hail from the Larkinson Clan.

Now that the Phase Lord Department was in his pocket for at least 20 years, it was worthwhile to invest it in to make it stronger and more cohesive.

In addition, there was no rule that prohibited the Ascended Giants from joining the Larkinson Clan.

So long as they could overcome the brainwashing of the Red Ocean, Ves did not mind extending his trust towards them. There were plenty of talented fighters among the ranks of the Ascended Giants.

Right now, the Divine Harpoon already demonstrated a proactive willingness to support his new polemarchos. The Fiery Axe might follow suit.

Ves eventually decided to stash the golden enlightenment fruits in the Vault of Eternity.

There was no hurry to decide how to use them now that the immediate crisis had passed.

The rest of the day passed by in a blur. Ves finished the design session with his wife and took care of other matters of importance.

After he completed all of the paperwork and other issues that had piled up in the last few days, he decided that he had delayed the important moment long enough.

He decided to board a shuttle that would bring him to the surface of Jotunheim.

It was time for the Dark Apostle to present himself to his new subordinates.

He had already removed his bandages in order to change into his thick nanosuit.

The bruising on his skin did not look as bad as he feared. He still understood that his organs were in a considerably worse shape as they were not able to recover as quickly as ordinary flesh and skin.

For a moment, Ves felt tempted to swallow the enlightenment fruit that would allow him to master the application of oscillating force with his fists, but he resisted the allure.

He needed to apply a lot of planning and foresight to ensure the Phase Lord Department grew strong while also making sure that every Ascended Giant remained loyal to him. He could not imitate the Oscillating Fist and assume that pure strength was enough to overcome every problem.

“We have arrived, sir.”

Ves stepped out of the shuttle with his Apocalypse Warden bodyguards, not that they could offer too much protection to him these days. They were better off guarding his wife and children.

Even so, they were still good at keeping random folk at a distance and denoting his higher status to others.

The headquarters of the Phase Lord Department already received notification of his arrival in advance.

Many of the people assigned to the HQ had gathered inside the underground hangar bay.

Many uniformed human workers stood separate from the dozens of Ascended Giants who had appeared in their partially unfolded forms.

No matter the actual size of their true bodies, they seemed to have settled on limiting themselves to the height of a typical mech in their daily lives.

This made sense. A lot of human construction and infrastructure had been designed with the possibility of mechs passing through the halls.

While it was easy for most of the Ascended Giants to inflate their bodies further, they would have to scale up the headquarters and facilities to accommodate their drastically larger sizes.

That was not economical. Even the Phase Lord Department had to surrender to budgetary limitations and practicality.

Even so, the fact that so many humans had gained the ability to equal a mech in size was already impressive enough.

The full garrison had presented itself. Each of the Ascended Giants wore uniform and livery that corresponded to their respective phalanxes.

Even if this was not their full numbers, Ves and other humans could feel the latent threat and power behind their collective strength.

An individual Ascended Giant might not be particularly strong, but dozens of them in full wargear and demonstrating excellent teamwork may just be able to tear down ace mechs and greater phase lords alike!

They made a good attempt at showing their value to their new polemarchos. Ves could see and feel their undisguised enthusiasm and motivation. They not only welcomed their new leader, but they also looked forward to taking part in actual operations.

Each formation was headed by their interim strategoi.

The Fiery Axe stood at the head of the Flesh Choppers. She showed very little sign of infirmity. Perhaps she was already relishing a sparring session!

There were not many women among the Ascended Giants. Granted, unless they lived in abnormal states such as the Hex Federation, females always tended to have less representation in the military.

Even so, the proportion of women among the Ascended Giants was not as much as Ves expected… or hoped. There had to be a reason for this disparity. The ratios were much worse for the native aliens. He intended to look into this matter later.

The Divine Harpoon calmly stood at the head of the Faceless Giants. His men appeared a lot more uniform and consistent, which was exactly the way their phalanx was supposed to work.

The old leader made the most dependable impression by far. Ves would be a fool to ignore the man’s willingness to help with the transition of leadership.

The Grapple King presented himself in a stoic and neutral fashion. In his new capacity as the interim strategos of the Ur-Titan Phalanx, he must have his hands full with trying to fill the Unshakeable King’s big shoes.

It remained to be seen how supportive he was of the new regime, but so far the man looked like he possessed a sufficient amount of tact.

Of course, many of the Ascended Giants were not particularly pleased at the moment. They arrived and lined up in order to greet one of their own kind, not a tiny human mortal that they could easily trample if they did not watch their steps.

Ves looked into their expectant gazes and sighed.

He had hoped that they would associate the Dark Apostle with himself, but these giant morons still did not form this connection.

He reached out to his neck. The prototype collar had broken in the last fight and no one had thought to make a replacement. This meant that he would definitely go dormant as soon as he made way for the Dark Apostle.

On the one hand, Ves did not want to stay awake all of the time and follow his alter ego like a persistent voyeur.

On the other hand, he was not quite reassured with letting him do whatever he wanted while he partially assumed his identity.

For now, he was willing to extend his trust to the Dark Apostle. Even if he harbored ill intentions, this was not the time for him to rebel against red humanity.

His body began to expand in size. His new vacsuit automatically spread out and continued to ensure he remained adorned in a basic suit.

Once he reached the size of a mech, he stopped his growth.

Ves frowned for a moment. He had not yet reached the threshold where the Dark Apostle automatically took over.

Perhaps there was a way to make this transition happen on a voluntary basis. He concentrated for a moment and soon found that this was possible.

“Here goes nothing.”

The transition happened seamlessly.

The switch became evident to plenty of perceptive individuals. Compared to Ves, the Dark Apostle carried himself in a much more confident demeanor. The fact that he had won an arduous leadership challenge had inflated his pride and made him feel as if he was invincible.

“Polemarchos!”

“Dark Apostle!”

“Hail!”

The Ascended Giants all voiced their jubilation now that their new leader had truly arrived.

The Dark Apostle grinned without reserve as he took in his biggest conquest up to date.

The humans may have their plots and schemes, but it would be foolish to think they could control the Ascended Giants!

After thinking about how he wanted to turn the Ascended Giants into a force to be reckoned with, he raised his fist in a powerful gesture!

“My fellow giants. Your first polemarchos lies dead at my feet. His ambitions are great, but none of that matters if he lacks the strength and wisdom to win the fights that matter. Thus, his service has come to an end. I shall pick up where he left off and make sure that everyone in this dwarf galaxy will respect us as a superior race! Under my leadership, we shall crush our enemies with our own hands! We are the ascended!”

“WE ARE THE ASCENDED!”

“WE ARE THE ASCENDED!”

“WE ARE THE ASCENDED!”

The booming shouts of dozens of giants completely flooded the hangar bay with their sound vibrations!

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