Chapter 2687: Dignity Plenty of expert pilots survived after their expert mechs fell in battle. As long as they managed to eject their cockpits, they stood a decent chance of making it back to safety. For example, the Cross Clan only lost 1 out of 4 expert pilots. The Planat Clan still retained Venerable Damira Planat while the Praetor Clan managed to recover Venerable Albert Praetor. As for the Fridaymen, more than half of their foreign expert pilots actually perished. This was not just because their cockpits were of a lower grade than the rest, but also due to the sheer amount of opponents they fought. The end was especially brutal. When four Fridayman expert mechs wanted to stall the expeditionary forces as long as possible, they became swamped by a thousand mechs. There was no way any of the hostile expert pilots would be able to survive after their cockpits were struck by a couple of hundred attacks! Fortunately, the circumstances surrounding the defeat of the Charlemagne and Jeanne D'Arc were different. There were no hostiles left remaining around them so there was no risk of dispatching a rescue shuttle to pull out the trapped and injured expert pilots. Better yet, the two expert mechs fell rather close to the Spirit of Bentheim, so the rescue shuttle directly deposited the patients back to the ship with the best medical facilities in the Larkinson fleet. After hearing that Venerable Ghanso's case was very dire, Ves did not dare to dilly-dally around. He swiftly entered the treatment room where Ghanso's body was laid onto some kind of medical platform. Despite all of the hardware, none of the medical equipment was able to do anything to stabilize the mentally-anguished expert pilots. In fact, Ves felt it as soon as he entered the chamber. His mind became swept by a highly-erratic force of will that appeared to be very unstable. "Ahhh! Ves! I'll.. kill you! The Larkinsons.. must be restored!" Well, at least some things hadn't changed. Hearing Ghanso's curse immediately caused Ves to discard all of the sympathy he briefly held for the fallen Larkinson. "Hello, cousin." Ves casually greeted as he walked up to Ghanso. He didn't forget to activate the jammer function of his Unending Regalia. "It looks like you won't be getting your wish." The closer he got, the more difficult it was for him to keep his cool in the face of Ghanso's unstable force of will. Ghanso's mind was like a leaking tub. No matter how much the expert pilot wanted to keep himself together, the barrier that protected and contained his mind had deteriorated to a heavy degree. It was like a city wall that had been subjected to heavy bombardment. Too many parts of the walls had been damaged for it to serve its purposes. Unless Ghanso or someone else was able to plug all of the gaps, there was no way to prevent Ghanso's mind, will and spirit from eroding due to a combination of leakage and outside exposure. The human mind wasn't meant to exist in the open. Much like how regular human bodies easily got infected or polluted by toxins if they suffered cuts, Ghanso's open mind was simply incapable of defending itself from all of the consequences of losing its defenses. While he didn't show it, Ves was taken aback by what he saw. He frequently experimented on spirituality. What if he triggered an accident that caused his mind barrier to form holes as well? Was treating it as simple as patching it up with spare spiritual energy? Ves had an urge to try this solution out on Venerable Ghanso on the spot. While he didn't want to make Ghanso better, it was worth it to conduct an experiment. Anyway, it wasn't as if his cousin could resist becoming his next test subject. "Why.. are you staring me.. Like that? Talk to me.. Already!" "Shut up for a moment." Ves snapped as he concentrated his mind. Without caring for what Ghanso felt, Ves began to extend a firm spiritual projection that performed some simple actions. He basically grabbed a piece of Ghanso's force of will and tried to mold it into a patch that covered one of the holes in Ghanso's mind barrier. "AHHHH! I'LL KILL YOU!" It didn't work. The patch was too insubstantial and impermanent. Ves tried again. He grabbed different parts of Ghanso's mind and also varied the quantity he utilized. Nothing worked. Ves even made use of his own spiritual energy, but that led to a bad reaction that caused Ghanso to utter another curse. In the end, the expert pilot's mental barrier hadn't improved at all. In fact, its holes and tears were becoming wider. Ves estimated that it would collapse entirely after 20 or 30 minutes. He sighed. "You're dying." "You didn't.. need to tell me that." Ghanso glared at the object of his loathing. "At least.. give me the decency.. of looking you in the eyes. Get rid.. of that dumb helmet." Ves tapped the side of his helmet, causing his faceplate to turn completely transparent. "I'm not taking off my helmet. Who knows what kind of hidden weapon you are hiding in your body." "I'm bound here!" You have a bodyguard right behind you! I'm completely at your mercy!" "That makes me want to keep my helmet on even more." "You insufferable bastard!" Ves crossed his arms. "Look, I don't like to wear a bulky suit of armor that interferes with my movements either, but it's people like you who keep forcing me to wear it." "You deserve it! I.. hope someone else.. can succeed where I have failed." Ghanso gasped. Even upon his dying breath, the stubborn Larkinson still clung to his hate. Ves did not sense a single measure of remorse in his cousin's resentful tone. He felt disappointed. He had hoped that Ghanso would regain an inkling of his sanity at the onset of his death, but Ves felt as if he was facing an old grandpa who still clung to his outdated biases to the very end. There was no way to redeem Ghanso. "You're really pathetic, you know that?" Ves spoke as he looked down on his captive. "You went through all of this trouble to pursue a goal that no Larkinson can agree with. Have you ever thought that you don't actually represent the will of the Larkinsons?" "You're wrong! I.. am a true Larkinson! Only I am continuing the legacy of our predecessors. You.. you ruined everything! The entire family has gone astray because of your greed!" Ves snorted. "I find it rather silly that you think you are the hero of your own story. Circumstances can change, Ghanso. The political environment has changed. The economic environment has changed. Our relations have changed. Our capabilities have changed. Clinging to the past when it no longer fits the present is how species die off. Nothing lasts forever. Only a stubborn fossil like you thinks the old ways are still viable." This was a philosophical debate that was destined to go nowhere. The acid glare that Ghanso threw at Ves encapsulated the expert pilot's obsession. His entire identity was centered around the illusion that he was the 'savior' of the Larkinson Family. He never paid any thought of whether he was wrong on anything. Perhaps his mind and spirit might shatter completely if he was forced to recognize his faults. What a sad expert pilot. Ves turned around and extended his hand. "Book, please." Nitaa handed over the Larkinson Mandate to his armored hand. Ves placed the tome next to Ghanso's restrained body. "Goldie? Can you come out, please?" Nyaaaaa. The Golden Cat emerged out of the book and materialized her body. She looked a bit downcast due to the many losses the Larkinson Clan had suffered. "What is that?!" Ghanso initially regarded Goldie as a projection, but his crumbling and leaking force of will was still functional enough to recognize the extraordinary nature of the ancestral spirit's existence. Ves lovingly caressed Goldie's back, though his gauntlets made the experience a lot rougher than unusual. Nyaaa. "She is.. the purest distillation of the Larkinson Clan. Every true Larkinson is kin to her. As long as you are a Larkinson who is supportive to other Larkinsons, then Goldie will bless you with her warmth. Are you feeling okay right now?" "Get this filthy animal off me! I hate cats!" Nyaaaa! Goldie raised her tail and hissed at Ghanso. Obviously, there was no affection between them at all. Whereas other Larkinsons always felt comfortable being in the presence of the Larkinson Mandate or the Golden Cat, Ghanso simply reacted as if he was touching a hot coal. "Interesting. Goldie, you can return now if you don't want to stay." That was exactly what she wanted. After expressing her dislike by hissing at Ghanso one last time, she dove back into the Larkinson Mandate as if she was eager to escape a stinking bathroom. "Well, I've made up my mind." Ves muttered. "If even Goldie hates you, there really is no reason for me to feel remorseful over your death." "Don't bother with your falsehoods. You.. would probably dance on my grave." "I'm very happy to see you gone." His glee showed through his transparent faceplate. "I won't lie about that. I'm still a decent human being, though. I've already won. You're a challenging opponent, so the least I can do is to give your body the respect it deserves. I promise to give it a dignified burial." Though Ves sounded smug as hell, Ghanso relaxed a bit after hearing that Ves had no intentions to defile or dishonor his corpse. "Thank you…" "We are civilized people here. War is unquestionably gruesome, but it also produces the most noble moments in human history. I think it is important that our Larkinsons stay true to their noble ideals. I don't want them to descend into barbarism. The best way to reinforce that trend is to give your remains a respectful sendoff." "Even at this time, you still think about exploiting others.. figures.." "Our society is based around interests. Cooperation is gained through shared interests and conflicts are usually sparked by competing interests. No one does anything for free. That's stupid. Then again, I don't expect you to understand. Even now, you think that the Larkinson Family must return to the Bright Republic in order to become their war dogs, is that right?" "It's not like that!" Ghanso angrily replied. "There is honor in service! We must continue the legacy of our predecessors!" Ves just shook his head at that. He was losing patience in this conversation. Just as he was about to open his mouth, a chime sounded from the entrance hatch. "Come in." A bot floated inside that carried a number of metal boxes. "Ah, I've been waiting for this delivery." Ves took one of the boxes and brought it next to Ghanso. The expert pilot looked confused. "What is.. that?" "Oh, it's just a prop for my next experiment. An ominous feeling swept over Ghanso as he looked at Ves' increasingly more enthusiastic expression. Whatever was left of his intuition screamed in alarm! "Get.. back… I don't want.. to get involved with whatever you have in mind!" Ves amusingly chuckled. "What makes you think you have a choice? While I don't want to do harm to any kin of mine, you're no Larkinson. Not to me. You're a test subject, Ghanso. Enjoy your final moments as a living human being." "Wait.. we can talk about this! I have rights, Ves! You can't do this to me! ARRGGHHHH!" Venerable Ghanso experienced an overwhelming amount of mental pain! Ves mustered up his entire Spirituality to do something that he had always dreamed about but never dared to implement due to the taboo it represented. Yet now that the Battle of Reckoning happened to serve a dying expert pilot to him on a silver platter, how could he possibly resist? "You're not getting rid of me so easily, Ghanso!" Ves roughly scooped into Ghanso's mind and tried to pull out as much of the expert's mental stuff as possible. This was a rough, painful and extremely destructive process because it was impossible to extract an expert pilot's mind and spirit in a single go. What this essentially meant was that Ves was literally tearing pieces of Ghanso's mentality with every scoop! Whatever piece of will, thought, spirituality or other mind junk he managed to grab quickly entered the P-stone that Ves had just received. The P-stone ensured that the mental pieces did not deteriate any further due to outside exposure. If Ves was able to separate an expert pilot mentality as a single whole, then it may be possible to keep the individual in question alive in the truest sense. Sadly, Ves wasn't at that level yet. He could only employ this crude and destructive method to salvage as much of an expert pilot's mind, will and spirit as possible. Venerable Ghanso's body convulsed! His body was shaking as if he was being shocked by a current. The signs so bad that Dr. Ranya forcibly intruded into the treatment room. She attempted to get closer, but Nitaa firmly blocked her advance. "What are you doing?!" It was too bad that Ves had no time to answer the doctor. He sped up his scoping until he hollowed out Ghanso's completely collapsed mind. While there were a few tiny bits and pieces that Ves had missed, they quickly disappeared into the imaginary realm without any protection. The body ceased convulsing. It had become completely braindead without a spirit. "He.. he's dead, isn't he?" "He is." Ves nodded as he carefully closed the box holding the P-stone filled with his latest experimental materials. "Don't bother to wake him up or anything. He's a goner. Just keep the body in this state. Let's make it look as good as possible for its upcoming burial." Ghanso Larkinson had officially died.