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. "He has won the respect and admiration of his subordinates. Many Ur-Titans might not be as eager to defect to the Red Cabal as their strategos, but they are not violently opposed to the idea, which indicates that every Ascended Giant carries the seed of betrayal in their hearts. There is only a minority of Ur-Titans that have openly rejected their superior’s vision. Their champion happens to be among this group. Friedrich Sefenka, otherwise known as the Grapple King, still remembers his duty to red humanity, if only barely. He strongly rejects the decision to side with the native aliens. He may still advocate for separating the Ascended Giants from the rest of the human race in order to exist as a race of their own, that is much better than the alternative." The Ur-Titans were the first human phase lords. They had been picked from the most elite and skilled candidates and received the most resources out of the three phalanxes. All of this meant that the Ur-Titans and more specifically their strategos carried much greater weight than the other Ascended Giants! The only human phase lord whose opinion carried even greater weight was the polymarchos himself. "What of the Oscillating Fist himself?" "The messages reveal little about his opinions, Professor Larkinson. He communicates mostly in person and through his staff. He rarely sends out messages over his department’s internal network, and if he does, he mostly addresses neutral topics." "Then what do the other Ascended Giants think about his viewpoints?" "They all seemed to think that he is sympathetic towards their views." The secret keeper smirked. "The Divine Harpoon believes that he is successfully reminding the polemarchos of their original intention to serve red humanity. The Fiery Axe is convinced that her superior is in the process of turning the Ascended Giants into a separate race in the Red Ocean. The Unshakeable King has expressed optimism that his persuasion is slowly swaying the polemarchos towards defecting to the Red Cabal." "...It sounds like the Oscillating Fist has yet to make up his mind." Ves slowly concluded. "He reminds me of myself whenever I am at a junction where I have to make an important decision that can change everything. Whether you have already made up your mind or not, it is still a good idea to let your subordinates contribute their views and participate in the discussion. That way, you make them feel as if their opinions matter and you can be sure that you have considered every angle." "So what do you believe the polemarchos is inclined towards?" Ves furrowed his brows. "I am not sure, to be honest. My meeting with him lasted too short for me to get a good read on him. However, if we think about what we know about him, he is an extremely competitive person. He used to be a champion boxer and all. His first career still defines him. From that perspective, what he probably wants is for the Ascended Giants to exist as a special class of people, and that may mean going independent. That does not necessarily mean he wants to join the Red Cabal, but if red humanity regards the Phase Lord Department as traitors that have to be eliminated whenever possible, then there is nowhere else to go for protection and shelter." It was quite difficult to be in the Oscellating Fist’s shoes. His transformation into a phase lord may have turned him into a raging egoist who believed that the Ascended Giants had distanced themselves from their human roots, but that did not mean he had lost any of his political ability. Perhaps part of the reason why the Oscillating Fist became so well-liked as a leader was because he put a lot of work into finding acceptable compromises and getting as many people as possible to agree with his agenda. It was not because he possessed extraordinary charisma or anything. 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."