Chapter 7382: Deemed Unworthy - FIXED The Voice of Liberty won. He won by virtue of lasting long enough to allow the Riot Mark III to cripple itself. Though it was not a particularly impressive means of securing victory, that did not change the fact that the ambushing force had eliminated the only serious obstacle in its way. Saint Conrad Morgenstern had attained complete control over the battlefield. Technically speaking, the escort fleet still had a bit of fight left in it. All of its combat assets outside of its champion remained intact and undamaged. Its mechs and warships were still positioned to bombard the Sound of Revolution from nearly any direction. The Ascended Giants had finally made an appearance. They no longer huddled inside the Armitage like frightened rats. Despite their fears and misgivings, they all deployed into space. Their numbers, their superdimensional raiments and their superdimensional armaments granted them a slight measure of confidence, but not too much. For all of the damage that the Sound of Revolution had incurred from the Riot Mark III’s final blow, anyone could guess that this was not enough to render the senior ace mech ineffective. The Voice of Liberty’s willpower remained strong. The vibrancy of his Saint Kingdom had not even dipped after all of that fighting! Even if his machine suffered twice as much damage, so long as his domain field remained stable, the enemy ace mech could still crush the remainder of the escort fleet with an absolute advantage! This was the tyranny of a saint! This situation also exemplified why so many branches of red humanity had developed an insatiable appetite for stolen resonance technology. Only by developing and proliferating this new high technology would ’mortals’ be able to challenge the supremacy of saints and gods! Yet that effort was about to suffer a major setback once the Voice of Liberty completed his intended deed. Red humanity would still be able to develop stolen resonance technology without the captured Ixith Goliath. Yet without an authentic sample at their disposal, their progress would slow down by a significant extent until they managed to capture another Goliath with similar properties. How many more people would die as a result of a single rebellious ace pilot’s actions? Key innovations may not come out until several months later than what was previously possible. Entire star systems might fall because of the absence of upgraded battleships that had recently installed stolen resonance generators. If the Voice of Liberty possessed a better understanding of the potential misery that might ensue due to his obsessive need to defend the honor and dignity of the mech piloting profession, he might have questioned the wisdom of his current course of action. However, high-ranking mech pilots were not known for harboring doubts. They were not only among the more decisive individuals of the human race, but sometimes possessed the power and clout to realize their ideals! "The enemy is moving." "Do we continue to open fire, sir?" Ves made an immediate decision. "No. Stop all hostile actions. The enemy ace mech is damaged, but it has probably retained over 80 or 90 percent of its combat effectiveness, especially considering that it is a machine that is personally designed by a Star Designer. There is no way our remaining combat assets can take advantage of this opening and neutralize the threat. Instead of annoying him further and inviting potentially lethal retaliation, it is better to admit that we have lost and cease hostilities. I mean it when I say that we are all at the mercy of a saint." This was the terror of an individual that had almost become a god candidate. Their chances of winning were already slim from the beginning, so the current outcome should have been anticipated by all of the major players. There was no need for good men and women to throw their lives away in a senseless and wasteful display of duty. All of these soldiers could still make themselves useful on other battlefields, particularly if the development of stolen resonance technology suffered significant setbacks and delays. Nobody needed any convincing. Ves doubted that his tier 2 galactic citizenship made any difference in people’s calculations. Everyone, from the highest officers to the lowest of maintenance workers, expressed no defiance towards this order. They obediently shut down their offensive weapon systems and made no further actions that could constitute a continuation of the battle. Though many of them felt utterly defeated and vulnerable, they did not have much fear of losing their lives. From the beginning, Saint Conrad Morgenstern had refrained from directing his attacks to the other forces in the engagement. This indicated that he still clung to numerous bottom lines even as he abandoned other ones. Of course, even if he didn’t care for the lives of ordinary soldiers, it made little difference. The power disparity between himself and the rest of the escort fleet was so vast that he had the privilege to disregard any other threats. Even the Ascended Giants clad in superdimensional raiments appeared utterly vulnerable to a saint of his capabilities. His ace mech was fast and strong enough to yank a superdimensional weapon from one of their hands. The proportions may not match, but as long as the machine could still grip the weapon, then that was fine. In fact, the Voice of Liberty did not even have to bother with this step. His voice and music had always been his greatest weapons. With the disappointing mental strength of the Ascended Giants, they had no chance in hell of defending themselves against the enemy’s sound attacks. This was why they continued to hover at the rear without daring to go forward. Approaching could be interpreted as a provocation or an intent to test their strength against the damaged but still very battle-worthy saint. The Dark Apostle gritted his teeth as he once again felt how powerless he was against another type of enemy champion. The Goliath Hive already trounced his boys with its massive Goliaths. Now, a powerful senior ace pilot had once again rendered the numerical advantage of his men completely meaningless! This incident proved to him in a visceral manner that once a champion became strong enough, most enemies could be treated as ants. No matter how many feeble insects attempted to mob the powerhouse, the latter only had to exert a slight amount of effort to completely pulverize the opposition! "I hate this." He cursed. "I feel the same way, but control yourself." Ves responded to his other self. "He is heading right in our direction." Because the Dark Apostle positioned himself in front of the research vessel, the Sound of Revolution had to get past him in order to reach his target. It was quite intimidating for a somewhat hostile ace mech to fly closer and closer. Though the Voice of Liberty had reined in his aggression, he continued to strum a guitar tone that signaled that he was not done with his business just yet. His intimidation factor rose. Combined with the low-level energy field, even the most stubborn troublemakers could not muster any desire to resist at the moment! Though the Dark Apostle increasingly felt the urge to fly to the side, he tried his best to suppress his nerves and maintain the dignity of his station. He was the polemarchos of the Ascended Giant. He shared his body with the most brilliant mech designer of his generation. He was a part of the power structure of red humanity. Backing off would tarnish the dignity of the entire institution. While many people focused on the Sound of Revolution’s inexorable advance, a retrieval team finally arrived at the almost-derelict Riot Mark III. Its condition had slowly worsened after the end of the fighting. Chunks of damaged superdimensional armor plating had fallen off. Minor electrical sparks riddled some of its holes. Excess heat radiated from its damaged and rent upper torso section. Fortunately, its archemetal mech frame spared it from many other potential faults. The alien machine architecture was based on organic shells that had evolved to endure and mitigate a large amount of damage. Its dense construction and its largely solid constitution meant that there was relatively little for components to leak, get displaced or turn into a secondary source of damage. Though a large proportion of its internals had become warped and mutated, enough of its parts still retained at least a rudimentary degree of functionality. All of this meant was that even if the Riot Mark III had been beaten black and blue, its damage control capabilities were particularly good. This made the job for the retrieval personnel a lot easier. Though they did not understand anything about archetech, they at least possessed enough technical acumen to know which gaps needed to be sealed with special foam and how to handle the emissions leakages. They also sent small shuttles in multiple direction to retrieve the pieces of loose-flying superdimensional alloy. Though it was impossible to recover every single piece of superdimensional debris, they should at least be able to gather 90 percent of the Riot Mark III’s original structure by the end. The rest could only be treated as a permanent loss. The Larkinsons would have to dip into their reserves of high-grade superdimensional matter to make up for the shortfall. These were concerns for later, though. The Sound of Revolution seemed to fly slowly, but it somehow ended a small distance away from the Dark Apostle in no time. Its aura of invincibility had grown stronger. Though the Riot Mark III had not posed a serious threat, its temporarily boosted strength at the end still granted it a measure of challenge. The senior ace pilot did not choose to advance further, though it easily could have done so if it wished. "PROFESSOR LARKINSON." "Saint Morgenstern." Ves felt incredibly nervous. The fact that the enemy chose to talk meant that not all was lost. There was still a chance, however small, to pull the delusional ace pilot back from the brink. However, he had very little confidence in his rhetoric at the moment. They had already exchanged words before, and he did not think he could add anything new to the conversation. What was even worse was that the fall of the Riot Mark III had massively weakened his bargaining position. This was clearly a situation where might makes right. "BEFORE I FULFILL MY INTENTIONS, I WISH TO EXCHANGE A FEW WORDS. NOT WITH YOU, BUT A LEADER WHO REPRESENTS MY CLASS. TELL YOUR MEN TO OPEN A DIRECT CONNECTION WITH A GOD PILOT. I KNOW SOME OF THEM ARE WATCHING. IF THEY ARE SO CURIOUS ABOUT ME, THEN THEY SHOULD HAVE THE COURTESY TO EXPLAIN THEMSELVES TO MY FACE." Technically, this was not a difficult request. He was probably correct about being observed by a handful of god pilots by remote. Yet talking to them was an entirely different matter. People did not just call god pilot out of the blue. These were deities in human form. They had exceeded the limitations of mortality and could no longer fully integrate into normal society. Just talking to them could easily contaminate an ordinary human being and turn them into obsessed and driven individuals who would stop at nothing to make their god proud! While Saint Morgenstern was obviously a lot stronger than that, there were many other reasons why it was not always a good idea for pilots like him to come into direct contact with their betters. Ves did not have to convey any requests. He merely waited for the officers of the escort fleet to make the arrangements in the background. The Dark Apostle soon received a notification that caused his expression to fall. Ves had already expected this response. He did not like it, but it was a typical response for those snooty bastards. "I am afraid we cannot satisfy your request. You have not... proven yourself worthy for an audience. A high-level temper tantrum is no excuse for you to demand concessions from our gods. If you wish to speak with a person of authority, you can do so with me. No tier 1 galactic citizens has chosen to deign to negotiate with a traitor such as yourself." The atmosphere grew even more dour. The naked and obvious contempt rankled the Voice of Liberty!