Chapter 7373: The Sound of Revolution - FIXED Many questions swirled in Ves’ mind. The appearance of the Voice of Liberty exerted a lot of pressure onto the members of the escort fleet. This was because this ace pilot possessed the potential to wipe out everyone. Saint Rosa Orfan may be able to survive a bout against this infamous RA ace pilot, but it would be difficult for her to eliminate the opposing champion. The disparity in resonance strength was too great. Saint Orfan had only recently become an ace pilot. Her tainted breakthrough that caused her to become permanently merged with her machine also produced a number of sequelae that might affect her ability to respond to different challenges. Saint Conrad Morgenstern was nearly the opposite in this regard. He was an older and much more experienced ace pilot. He had spent decades polishing his piloting skills and honing his craft by fighting against different enemies. All of those years of fighting and training allowed him to progress his resonance strength until it approached the dreaded peak! In other words, the Voice of Liberty’s resonance strength had almost become great enough to assume the identity of a god pilot candidate! That was a big deal, especially among the mechers! The Red Association as a whole did not want to see this powerful senior ace pilot meet his end. Treason or not, the misguided saint could still be returned to the light. So long as the ambushers had yet to open fire, the ’misunderstanding’ could still be resolved. "Jovy." Ves turned to his mecher friend. "Has the Resonance Smith replied to our inquiry? We need to understand his intentions and his relationship with the Voice of Liberty. It would be better for everyone if the Star Designer initiate contact with his friend and tell this deluded fellow to halt his protest action. It is not too late to stop." Jovy Armalon responded with a grimace. "We have been unable to contact the Resonance Smith directly. We have only been able to get a hold of one of his spokespersons. According to the representative, the Voice of Liberty is not a subordinate, and is not acting under the Resonance Smith’s orders. The two are separate actors and do not share any responsibilities." That sounded like a cheap excuse. "Yeah right." Ves crossed his arms and snorted. "The Voice of Liberty only managed to make it this far with the support of the Resonance Smith. The former also joined the Unbound Humanity Faction under the invitation of the latter. Their relationship is probably similar to my own bond with Saint Rosa Orfan. When you dedicate so much time and effort into nurturing and enabling a mech pilot with your work, the relationship you build with that figure is anything but transactional. I do not believe that the Resonance Smith has washed his hands off one of his favorite clients so easily." Though Ves had little qualms about questioning the Resonance Smith’s motives and integrity, the other people in the bridge cringed or looked uncomfortable. Their place in the hierarchy was not as high as that of Ves, so it was a lot more dangerous for them to engage in the same kind of questioning! Even Jovy looked like he wanted to be anywhere else. "The Resonance Smith’s response to our inquiry may not be satisfactory, but it is enough to convey his attitude. For all intents and purposes, Saint Morgenstern represents himself and his followers in the field. He does not stand for the Unbounders or the Resonance Smith. While we urge you to persuade the rogue ace pilot to reconsider his current actions, we will not blame you if you have to resort to violence. The only individual who is responsible for any unfortunate outcomes is the culprit, not the enforcer." That sounded reassuring, but Ves wanted a more concrete answer. "If the Voice of Liberty remains dangerous despite our best efforts to subdue him, are we permitted to neutralize him in a more permanent fashion?" "Yes." Jovy directly confirmed. "As long as he remains unambiguously hostile towards us and our mission, you and any other forces are permitted to kill him. It goes without saying that we prefer capture over execution, so if it is possible to cripple the Sound of Revolution, then do your best." That was a tall order. The Voice of Liberty was a senior ace pilot with a lot of experience. He was almost a god pilot candidate, and possessed the abilities as well as the resonance strength to match. Perhaps the only upside was that the Sound of Revolution was not entirely dedicated towards direct combat. Instead, it was an ace mech meant to amplify Saint Morgenstern’s greatest strength, which was playing music and using it to sway the hearts and passion of both allies and enemies! The Sound of Revolution could partially be considered a support mech in this regard. Of course, as a bona fide ace mech, its Guitar-Battle-Axe possessed a razor-sharp edge that could cut through lots of resistance! The question now was whether this musical axe made out of unknown but no doubt remarkable materials was powerful enough to chop through the Riot Mark III’s Chaos Armor. From a purely material standpoint, it shouldn’t be possible for the weird axe to create any breaches unless it landed at least a dozen heavy blows on the same armor section. However, the disparity between resonance strength was too great! Saint Orfan’s resonance strength was still in flux, but it should hover above 200 laveres. Saint Morgenstern’s resonance definitely surpassed 1500 laveres, and might even reach 1520 laveres when he was performing at his peak! This was an enormous difference. It was completely wrong to assume that the Voice of Liberty’s resonance strength was 8 times stronger. Due to the non-linearity of the lavere scale, the actual difference was much greater! "How old is his ace mech?" Ves asked. "The Sound of Revolution is more than a decade old, but it was last updated more than a year ago." Jovy responded after consulting the RA’s database. "The Resonance Smith was personally responsible for its creation and subsequent evolutions. The good news is that we have access to the design files of this machine. We are in the process of retrieving it without involving the Resonance Smith, which takes time due to the convoluted authorization process." That was convenient. And dangerous. Ves could guess that the RA was not willing to expose the design schematics of such a powerful and important machine lightly. Any leaks would not only teach enemies how to best dismantle the Sound of Revolution, but also leak potential cutting-edge proprietary design solutions! Still, the Resonance Smith should have little to complain about. Since he refused to take direct action, the Red Association could only resort to other measures to limit the potential damage. Ves wanted to take a close look at the design schematics of the powerful ace mech before he opened up a dialogue with the rogue actor, but the latter unfortunately lacked patience. The Sound of Revolution hovered a little closer and began to spread out its Saint Kingdom! Though it did not come too close to the escort fleet, the ace mech nonetheless radiated a much weaker energy field that somehow caused the people inside of it to hear... music. This shouldn’t have been possible. The sounds did not pass through space, as there was no way for the vibrations to propagate in a vacuum environment. The music did not pass through any digital signals either. The escort fleet had not yet established a communication link with the opposing ace mech. Yet everyone heard the same guitar tune anyway. This was one of the many manifestations that made ace pilots so unreasonable. Their willpower could easily realize impossibilities. Though a normal ace mech shouldn’t have been able to spread its music across the entire escort fleet, the Sound of Revolution was not called this way for nothing. As a work of the Resonance Smith, the ace mech had been specifically designed to amplify Saint Morgenstern’s passion for music and help him spread his sounds as widely as possible. The Resonance Smith must have utilized unknown resonating materials and other special technologies to create this astounding effect. Was it worth it? The Voice of Liberty must definitely think so, because he had to give up other cool features! "This song..." Ves was no music connoisseur, but he could feel that the guitar tone conveyed a strong emotion and intent. Right now, the ace mech conveyed a slow tune. The rhythm was slow and the notes only played a simple melody. Aside from sounding good, the tune also caused everyone to relax and lower their guard. Even Ves found it difficult to resist this influence! While he remained alert enough to know that he had to resist this effect, the Sound of Revolution somehow made it difficult to keep his mind sharp! How insidious! Though the Voice of Liberty ostensibly approached peacefully, he had already launched his first attack on the escort fleet! 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺 If he could dampen the resistance of the members of the escort fleet, then he could easily bypass any remaining resistance and eliminate the captured Ixith Goliath! Ves was just about to force himself to unleash a roar, but Saint Rosa Orfan already acted faster! Her own Saint Kingdom flared as she transmitted her words through an override channel! "WAKE UP! DO NOT LET THIS GUY LULL YOU INTO SLEEP! HE IS THE ENEMY! NONE OF US DESERVES REST UNTIL WE HAVE GOTTEN RID OF THIS SPEED BUMP!" Her crude words along with its underlying willpower produced the desired effect. Everyone that had previously grown dull and lethargic suddenly jolted to alertness! Though many soldiers found it a bit harder to regain their focus than others, they at least regained their fighting capabilities! Seeing that his adversaries had managed to ruin his attempt to secure an easy win, the Voice of Liberty no longer played the relaxing tune anymore. Instead, it changed to a more unsettling and discordant melody. It instantly produced a lot of tension. The song pressed on the hearts of the listeners, as if they were only a few steps away from suffering a horrible fate! "STOP IT WITH THE PARLOR TRICKS." Saint Rosa Orfan growled as her ace mech pointed its tier 3 Destroyer spear directly towards the machine on the other side. "I WILL GIVE YOU ONE CHANCE TO CHANGE YOUR MIND AND GO AWAY. IF YOU DO NOT TAKE IT, THEN DO NOT BLAME ME FOR WHAT HAPPENS NEXT." The Larkinson ace pilot certainly did not lack confidence. Though her resonance strength was far inferior, she piloted the best junior ace mech in the Red Ocean. Its full superdimensional mech frame should hold up much better against the Sound of Revolution. What further amplified Rosa Orfan’s confidence was the huge disparity in other assets. The escort fleet comprised many first-class multipurpose mechs as well as a sizable complement of first-class warships. They might not stand a chance against the Voice of Liberty by themselves, but they could provide a lot of fire support in this situation! Saint Conrad Morgenstern finally spoke for the first time since he appeared. "I HAVE NO INTEREST IN SPEAKING WITH AN ATTACK DOG LIKE YOU. I WANT TO SPEAK TO THE PERSON WHO IS TRULY IN CHARGE OF YOUR OPERATION. VES LARKINSON, I KNOW YOU ARE THERE. COME OUT AND FACE ME. I WANT TO TALK TO YOU DIRECTLY. DO NOT MAKE ME WAIT." "..." The bridge fell silent as people processed the antagonistic ace pilot’s demand. Jovy slowly turned to his friend. "Will you...?" Ves frowned. "I prefer not to put myself in front of a powerful ace mech that can go hostile at any time, but... I have an obligation to salvage this mess. If there is any chance I can talk him into retreating, then I have to take it. At least my superdimensional raiment should be able to prevent any instant kills."