Chapter 7194: The Bearing of the Oscillating Fist The final confrontation had begun. As the Dark Apostle arrived at the center of the dueling ground, he looked ready to confront the most powerful Ascended Giant currently in existence. His wargear reflected how much he feared his opponent. His current raiment did not look too different from the one he wore in the previous duel. The biggest difference was that its flight system was designed to excel in linear acceleration. It gave up on agility in order to optimize its entire performance around charging forward in a straight line. 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮 His armaments reflected his extreme coping strategy against the Oscillating Fist even further. The blast lances attached to his back were too long and unwieldy to fend off one of the best pugilists in the Red Ocean. Their reach was excessive and their mass was too high. It would take forever to swing them around. Their length would have to be cut in half to make them at least somewhat viable in a brawling match against the Oscillating Fist. Of course, neither Ves nor the Dark Apostle had any intention of challenging the polemarchos in the area he excelled at. The previous duel already taught them a lesson about how powerful an Ascended Giant could become if they dedicated their entire development trajectory towards a single mode of combat. The fact that the tips of the darkness and fire-aspected lances had been filled with the most potent explosive propellant that the RC could scrounge on quick notice was undeniable proof that they were only ever designed for a single purpose. That was for the Dark Apostle to ram them into the Oscillating Fist and have them explode with great force! Ves particularly looked forward to seeing the fusion of ancient artifice and modern chemistry. If the observers had already grown impressed by the power of the explosions of his previous sacrificial spears, then they would definitely enjoy the explosions produced by purpose-built blast lances! The only concern was whether this was enough to take down the Oscillating Fist in a duel. Once the Dark Apostle used up the two blast lances, he would have nothing left aside from his fists and the Murder Knife. Considering that Ves had not been able to ingest an enlightenment fruit that taught him how to punch or wield a knife, the Dark Apostle would never be able to win a fair fight against the Oscillating Fist! Ves deeply hoped that the blast lances would do their jobs and put the Oscillating Fist in an infirm state. The only way the Dark Apostle could win a brawl against this former galactic champion-grade boxer was if he was injured to hell. As the Dark Apostle floated just above the surface of Jotunheim, he continued to wait for his final opponent to arrive. This was a day of destiny for them both. For the Dark Apostle, his takeover of the Ascended Giants was his capital to prove his right to exist. He clenched his fist. He did not want to get stuffed in a deep dark hole again as soon as this affair had concluded. No matter what he thought about his relationship with Ves, the fact of the matter was that he was currently the junior partner of their shared true body. The Dark Apostle was not stupid. He was surrounded by humans and could only rely on their protection to maintain a foothold in this exceedingly dangerous dwarf galaxy. The only thing he could do under the circumstances was keep his head down, act as the perfect human lackey and bide his time. He would have much greater capital to assert his rights once he took over leadership of the Ascended Giants and have them flourish over the course of the current wars. Red humanity may have grown vigilant towards human phase lords, but it could not afford to keep them in reserve. The war didn’t care about the division between humans and Ascended Giants. There would be a place for the recently retaken Phase Lord Department. It was up to the Dark Apostle to fight for his people’s rights and convince the greedy and selfish red humans to grant more leeway to his fellow giants. All he needed to do now was to force the Oscillating Fist to accept the leadership transition. The Dark Apostle hoped that he would be as rational and coolheaded about it as Ves had been when the Larkinsons forced him to resign from his patriarch position. Yet few people expected the famed polemarchos to relinquish his seat of power. This was the leader who reshaped the Phase Lord Department into its current incarnation. Though he had been indecisive as of late, his initial leadership demonstrated his strong will and vision for the Ascended Giants. This was not an ordinary individual. The Oscillating Fist showed all of the traits of an idealogue and a visionary. After spending so much time speculating about the Oscillating Fist’s motives and worrying about his possible responses, many people finally experienced relief when this mysterious leader finally made an appearance. He emerged from one of the exits of the headquarters of the Phase Lord Department in resplendent gear. Though the engineers and cultivation scientists of the Phase Lord Department were not the best, the ones assigned to serve him in person were a cut above the rest. They also included experts that the Oscillating Fist directly hired as opposed to getting them assigned from the Red Collective. These people certainly knew their craft. As the Oscillating Fist flew towards his destination by himself, many different sensors and scanners unscrupulously tried to figure out all of the secrets of his gear. What was apparent on the surface was that the exterior layer consisted of seashell-like scale armor. The organic-like shells did not look like they were fabricated. They looked as if they had been grown from an alien aquatic species. Fortunately, the subsequent layers consisted of relatively ’ordinary’ armor plating. The exotics and hypers used to make them could all be traced to the known material shipments to the HQ of the Phase Lord Department. It was easy to understand the alloy mixtures and why they were put together that way by studying the prior works of the engineers and armorers employed by the Oscillating FIst. All of the tech was fairly standard as well. The Phase Lord Department did not have the capacity to develop better conventional tech. The most its R&D department could do was to adapt existing inventions to phase lord equipment. Yet that did not seem to affect the Oscillating Fist’s confidence in the slightest. His helmet was open, exposing his face to the cold vacuum of Jotunheim’s nearly nonexistent atmosphere. If the other phase lords looked like humans magnified by a hundred times, the Oscillating Fist appeared like a carved monument that had come to life. He was truly handsome in a way that seemed natural and authentic. He not only carried the looks, but also possessed the bearing of a truly superior being. It was as if the Oscillating Fist was the only being who could genuinely be described as an Ascended Giant. All other human phase lords strove to become like him, but always fell short for one reason or another. Even the Dark Apostle felt rather inferior. His true body went through numerous evolutions and lightning baptisms. Each transformation generated subtle changes to his face and the rest of his body. While he looked increasingly more handsome and heroic with every major evolution, he still lacked the maturity and sense of gravitas that the Oscillating Fist effortlessly exuded. This shouldn’t be the case. The Dark Apostle or rather Ves had contributed a lot more to humanity in both galaxies. As a mech designer and an innovator, Ves had changed the course of human history and made it possible for every human to become a Carmine mech pilot! Yet he didn’t carry himself like one, and that was a big problem. He acted and behaved in a manner as if he did not acknowledge his significance in the fabric of the universe. Perhaps one possible reason was his youth. He was too young and inexperienced to know how to carry himself as a superior leader. Another reason may be his ordinary childhood and upbringing. Growing up as an ’average’ third-rater left him bereft of the arrogance and sense of superiority that came natural to people such as Gloriana. A third reason may be his adherence to the mech designer creed. Since the start of his studies, his professors had consistently repeated the principle that mech designers existed to serve mech pilots, and not the other way around. Mech designers must never develop too big of an ego. They could never be allowed to become the protagonists of a conflict. They were supposed to act as the supporting characters of a play centered around the real heroes of the story, namely mech pilots. Although Ves had become way more than just an ordinary mech designer, he still considered himself as one, to the point where he openly rejected his identity as an Ascended Giant! This may be why Sev, who chose to adopt the name of the Dark Apostle, lacked the ability to possess a bearing as good as the Oscillating Fist. After all, his personality and ego did not appear out of nowhere. They were all derived from the same source, one that the Dark Apostle could only regard as inadequate. What was worse was that the Dark Apostle did not exist long enough to earn his own achievements. While he was proud of winning 3 duels against older and more experienced Ascended Giants, he could not deny that it was mostly Ves that enabled his victories. The Dark Apostle had to rely too much on expensive toys and fancy gear in order to make up the difference in skill and other intangible qualities. With that in mind, how could he possibly carry himself as if he was the strongest and most invincible warrior of his kind? The fact that he was unable to gain the supreme bearing of a true high tier galactic citizen was a major shortcoming. Ves lacked the deterrence that could discourage other parties from messing with him. The Fiery Axe would never think about killing him if he possessed this quality. The Divine Harpoon also wouldn’t have dared to mislead him in such a blatant manner. It was no wonder that the Ascended Giants had followed the Oscillating Fist without question. If not due to his silence and inaction in the last few months, the Ascended Giants would have been a lot more stubborn about giving their progenitor a chance to contest leadership. Even now, more than a few Ascended Giants must be questioning why they chose to side with their progenitor instead of their true leader. This was bad. The Ves and the Dark Apostle had worked too hard to take over the Phase Lord Department. They would not allow this unstable factor to take back this treasure! [We have scanned his equipment and found no obvious violations so far.] Secret Keeper Zariel-775 transmitted to the Dark Apostle’s raiment. [Be that as it may, be careful and do not make too many assumptions. The Oscillating Fist’s gauntlets are made of special materials that we cannot identify right away. The materials that make up the scales of his raiment are also unusual. We suspect that he secretly received aid from a foreign source, most likely the Cosmopolitan Movement or the Red Cabal.] Both Ves and the Dark Apostle frowned deeper. External support could provide all manner of technological gizmos to the Oscillating Fist. It would become even harder to figure out his full capabilities. They just had to accept that they were diving into the unknown this time. As the Oscillating Fist reached the center plaza, he finally arrested his forward motion and continued to hover at the same height as his dueling opponent. The gaze of the polemarchos of the Ascended Giants bore into the Dark Apostle as if he was trying to drill through a black hole. The first leader soon issued his verdict. "Immature." His word struck the Dark Apostle like an illusionary punch to his face!