Chapter 7374: Man of Principles Ves deliberately took his time to gear up. He left the bridge of the Tarrasque and moved down before he unfolded his true body. The Dark Apostle soon began to take over his shell, forcing Ves to temporarily occupy Blinky’s spiritual form in order to maintain a semblance of his agency. "Are you afraid?" Ves asked through his feline vessel. His other personality twitched his lips. "I would be lying if I said no. According to the records that you have skimmed through, Saint Conrad Morgenstern is known as a willful and rebellious hero. He is a rule breaker at heart. If he thinks that we are the enemy, there is a great chance that he will turn hostile against us. While our forces heavily outnumber his own, the Voice of Liberty... is way too powerful." The absolute disparity in strength concerned everyone greatly. Ves himself doubted whether the Riot Mark III could keep up with the Sound of Revolution in terms of speed, strength and most importantly skill. The Voice of Liberty had progressed way too far as an ace pilot. Any saint that had managed to come close to touching the threshold to godhood had long left the boundaries of reality. In more concrete terms, what Ves feared the most was the much more potent resonance empowerment of the opposing ace mech. Strong enough true resonance could turn any trash into treasure. Weapons hit many times harder while armor could withstand blows that ordinarily should have caused breaches. Although the Riot Mark III not only made use of more cutting-edge technologies, but was also clad in high-grade superdimensional armor plating, Saint Orfan’s resonance empowerment was much weaker in comparison. From the perspective of a mech designer, the Riot Mark III could not compete against the Sound of Revolution in a fair duel. The Chaos Armor granted the ace spearman mech a formidable defensive advantage, but that was not enough to secure victory. The enemy ’support’ mech was much faster and could unleash surprisingly powerful blows. It would definitely be able to gain the initiative and keep it during the entire engagement. The only way Saint Orfan could squeeze out a win was to rely on the support of the rest of the escort fleet. Yet even then, Ves did not possess a lot of confidence that their combined efforts could secure an absolute victory. "Divine Harpoon." The Dark Apostle called out his fellow giant. "Your orders, sir?" "Keep your giants on standby." The polemarchos instructed. "Against an ace pilot of this caliber, our Ur-Titans and Faceless Giants won’t be able to help all that much. Any fight that ensues between our boys and that metal monster will just lead to the same kind of tragedy that happened during our first contact with the Ixith Goliath. The Voice of Liberty has the power, speed and skill to outmaneuver our clumsy giants and steal their superdimensional arms. We absolutely cannot hand any superdimensional weapon to an enemy that can amplify its penetrative power to a ridiculously high degree. Is that understood?" The logic behind this decision was absolute. As much as it pained the giants to admit that they would only make things worse for their side, they could not refute it in the slightest. That earlier incident had shamed them too deeply. Until they managed to overcome its shadow, they would not easily put themselves in the same helpless position again. Besides, the Voice of Liberty was a far more threatening enemy than the Ixith Goliath. The latter’s resonance strength had only reached the level of an expert pilot. The massive Goliath hadn’t developed any sophisticated abilities and techniques that could leverage the reality-distorting properties of stolen resonance more effectively. In contrast, the Voice of Liberty was a genuine ace pilot who had thoroughly explored his ability to change the reality around him with his exuberant willpower. One of the reasons why Ves did not have a lot of confidence that the other forces could assist Saint Orfan in defeating Saint Morgenstern was because the latter was able to brainwash the weak! With his music and his long-ranged energy field, the Voice of Liberty was able to shake the thoughts and emotions of those who listened to his voice and his guitar music. This applies to both friendlies and hostels! He could make hardened soldiers cry and feel guilty about their actions. He could make the most fearless mech pilots afraid and compel them to flee the battlefield. He could amplify the negative emotions of his enemies, causing them to lose their rationality and make lots of mistakes! This happened to be especially concerning to the Ascended Giants, whose bodies were strong but minds were relatively weak in comparison. Their mental defenses could not effectively resist the influence of the enemy ace pilot! The only way the giants could maintain their wits was to keep their distance, but that heavily limited their ability to contribute to the battle. "Understood, sir. I shall make sure to keep our giants in line and out of sight." The Divine Harpoon seriously responded to his superior. "What about you, Dark Apostle?" The giant leader in question had just completed his outfitting. Now wrapped in his Superdimensional Giant Regalia, he still did not feel entirely safe. He looked down at the Withering Sting and sighed. "Don’t." Ves warned. The Dark Apostle knew his other self was right. He reluctantly put the Withering Sting back onto the weapon rack along with his other giant-scaled armaments. The polemarchos absolutely could not bring it onto the battlefield and give the Voice of Liberty an opportunity to snatch it from his hands! "Are you sure you want to go out unarmed, sir?" The Divine Harpoon asked in concern. "Certain? No, but that does not stop me from going out. I have to meet this challenge. I am a leader. I am responsible for you all. You can stay behind, but I cannot." "Don’t worry." Ves added as his purple form floated to the side. "I am not confronting a savage monster like the Ixith Goliath. Saint Morgenstern may be many things, but he is not a rabid beast. He is a saint, a man of honor. If he wanted to kill me, he would do so openly and in an upright manner. Since he has not called for my head, that means that there is still room for negotiation." After making a few more arrangements, the Dark Apostle finally launched into space. Everyone paid attention to his giant suited form. His high-quality superdimensional raiment attracted a lot of envy and greed. It was only due to the exalted status and reputation of its wearer that most people squashed any desire to snatch it for themselves. Even the Voice of Liberty harbored a desire to wrench away the valuable materials and demand a team of mech designers to integrate it into his own ace mech! The powerful ace pilot briefly wondered what his guitar would sound like when it had undergone a complete superdimensional conversion. His Saint Kingdom grew brighter and more volatile as his intuition hinted that the results would be extraordinary! The Voice of Liberty quickly shook his head inside his cockpit and restrained his urges. He did not come here to indulge in his desire for superdimensional technology. He had greater priorities in mind. The Dark Apostle flew forward at a sedate pace. He deliberately took his time because it bought more time for the escort fleet to prepare for a possible collision against an extremely powerful opponent. If a conflict could not be avoided, then the forces at hand needed to make use of every possible weapon and tool to target the weak points of the Sound of Revolution. The greater the delay, the greater the preparations. This was why the Dark Apostle maintained a pace that was rather slow but not intolerably so. Several more minutes passed before he reached the side of the Riot Mark III. The polemarchos felt safer within the protective envelope of the Larkinson ace mech’s Saint Kingdom. At the very least, the Sound of Revolution’s mind-altering energy field could not pass its boundaries. "Larkinson." Saint Morgernstern spoke up again. "We finally meet. You are... more abnormal than I expected. No matter. At least one of you is the person that I wanted to talk to. You are an inventor. You are the harbinger of both wondrous and disastrous technologies. The Carmine System is but one example of this. You have given many people hope of becoming mech pilots, but it is a false one. Far too many workers who could have lived more fruitful and productive lives as scientists, naval personnel and so on have instead become obsessed with wielding power that they do not always deserve to wield." This was not an uncommon opinion among the existing class of mech pilots. The older generation especially felt a strong sense of ownership towards their former exclusivity. "Are you a supporter of the theory that mech pilots are uniquely blessed and therefore the only rightful candidates to pilot mechs?" "Not at all." The opposing ace mech slightly shook its head. "I do not begrudge norms for desiring to pilot your Carmine mechs. Now that you have single-handedly advanced our technology to make that possible, many people who could have become future heroes and possibly even gods are no longer hindered by a trait as arbitrary as genetic aptitude. My problem with this new technology is not its existence, but its implementation. It is too chaotic. Far too many dreamers are being led astray. The same applies to stolen resonance technology. The potential damage it can do to our society is greater due to the terrible cost it demands." "You don’t sound like a member of Unbound Humanity Faction." Ves calmly retorted. "You are advocating for restricting and regulating the potential of red humanity. Shouldn’t you be in favor of unleashing it instead?" The Voice of Liberty huffed in response. "There is a limit to everything! I am an advocate for freedom, not anarchy! Besides, I am my own person. Just because I am grateful to the Resonance Smith and joined his faction does not mean I share all of his goals and passions. We are of two different minds when it comes to this subject. I have no objection to most technologies, but stolen resonance tech is different. This is a work of evil. An expert pilot must sacrifice his life for every device that can reproduce a semblance of his willpower. Such technology goes too far and cannot be allowed to exist. For the sake of the future of my fellow expert pilots and ace pilots, I cannot allow you to deliver your cargo to Yernstall." Damn. The Voice of Liberty truly stood on principle on this matter. Though it reassured everyone that he confirmed in his own words that he did not collude with the Resonance Smith, he could still pose a considerable hindrance by himself! "We cannot allow you to act unilaterally, Saint Morgenstern. The stakes are too great. More powerful leaders than you and I have already debated on this matter and come to a consensus that stolen resonance technology is too powerful for us to ignore. While you have valid concerns, this is absolutely not the right place and time for you to issue your objections, let alone act in complete violation of your orders." The Sound of Revolution made a menacing shift forward. Its Saint Kingdom became a little more active. "I. DO. NOT. CARE. THE CAPTURED GOLIATH MUST DIE. YOUR EXPERIMENTS MUST BE TERMINATED. EACH OF YOU MUST MAKE A SOLEMN PROMISE TO ME AND THE ENTIRE MECH COMMUNITY THAT YOU WILL NEVER WORK ON ANYTHING RELATED TO STOLEN RESONANCE EVER AGAIN. WE ARE BETTER THAN THIS. WE SHOULD NOT RELY ON TAINTED TECHNOLOGY THAT IS BASED ON EVIL ALIEN PRINCIPLES TO WIN OUR WARS. I INTEND TO CUT OFF ALL TEMPTATION NO MATTER WHAT MEASURES I HAVE TO RESORT TO. DO NOT TRY MY PATIENCE, LARKINSON. WILL YOU COMPLY?"