The Mech Touch

There was no way to fully describe the magnificence of this singular crown. It was not so much an object as it was a fixture filled with symbolism given life and substance.

While most people in the assembly hall automatically assumed that the Polymath had meticulously designed and built this crown as some sort of technological masterpiece, Ves knew better.

Though the design was completely different, it possessed a number of physical and contextual similarities to another crown that his mother had shown off back in the other galaxy.

Ves had a strong feeling that the Polymath had unveiled the Metal Scroll\'s version of the Golden Laurel Wreath Crown.

Whatever its functions, it not only appeared to give the Polymath a power boost that enabled her powerful aura and domain to fend off the Xenotechnician with greater efficiency, but also produced a more disastrous effect!

Ves and everyone else could see that whenever the crown pulsed in a soft gray corona, the splinter kingdom released a similar pulsing glow in return!

It was like a heartbeat that was slowly coming to life, one that every single member of the mech community could feel within the depths of their own sources of power.

"The Polymath... is resonating with her new kingdom." A nearby mecher gasped with awe.

Whether the statement was accurate or not, it sure looked as if the Polymath was attempting to interface with the splinter kingdom on a mystical level that Ves couldn\'t even begin to understand.

Whatever the case, the tyrant couldn\'t be allowed to complete this crucial step!

Once she had taken over the fraction of the kingdom bequeathed by the original humans as their final parting gift, the entire mech community would fall under her sway!

Everyone would be forced to dance to her tune aside from maybe the Red Fleet. True freedom would become a secondary concern as the Polymath\'s drive to pursue the most rational and optimal outcomes compelled her to control all of red humanity like chess pieces.

This was not the future that Ves wanted to live in. It was not the kind of society that he wanted his children to grow up in. The present version of humanity may be anything but perfect, but at least it gives enough opportunities for a lot of people to pursue their own dreams and make their own choices!

"Why aren\'t we taking action already?!"

"We are! It\'s harder than it looks! The Polymath has already taken all of our measures into account. It\'s as if she already has us in checkmate before she even made the first move!"

Although it looked as if nobody was putting up any resistance, the real struggle took place on multiple levels that were too abstract and complicated to understand for most people.

Ves gained an inkling of what it was like to fight a battle at this high level as he could feel the faint ripple effects of a clash between Star Designers taking place in dimensions that were far removed from the material realm.

The Xenotechnician employed tech and powers against the Polymath, only for the latter to fend them off with her own measures.

Perhaps the older Star Designer might have been able to gain ground over his opponent by virtue of his greater experience and accumulation, but the Polymath managed to put up a much better resistance than she should!

Her development as a Star Designer not only exceeded that of her peers, but she also benefited from an unknown but most definitely potent power boost from her gunmetal gray crown!

"The Polymath is holding her ground!"

Given that the Polymath still had to divert a significant amount of power to hold back her fellow faction leader, this should have been the perfect time for the Mace of Retaliation and all of the other ace pilots to make their moves.

Yet none of them made any attempts to summon their ace mechs, because the Polymath put them all in checkmate somehow as well!

"As soon as an ace mech appears, the conflict will escalate and spill out in our immediate surroundings. The Khamatar Reign and a large concentration of the most crucial leaders and professionals of red humanity will be wiped out from existence. That is a lose-lose situation that no one wants to come to pass."

Ves grew more and more disappointed at the Survivalists around him. Although he knew they were doing what they could to resist the Polymath\'s attempted takeover without putting a lot of people at risk, he grew frustrated at their utter inability to defeat a single renegade!

They literally outnumbered her! They had their own Star Designer on their side! Why couldn\'t they whip out a lot of guns and start firing right away?!

He understood the reason for their restraint soon after he thought about it. He could tell that the Polymath had subverted a lot of tech on the vessel.

Any sign of employing a weapon would provoke a furious retaliation from the ship\'s own defensive systems!

In fact, even if Ves managed to get off a shot from his Amastendira would cause hundreds of layers of transphasic energy shields to appear and block the attack.

Anything else would provoke an even greater response. Ves had recently managed to get his hands on an antimatter bomb.

A weapon of mass destruction was a fearsome threat to any group, but not the Survivalists in one of the centers of their power!

The antimatter bomb could be teleported hundreds of thousands of kilometers away just a split-second after it appeared.

Its triggering mechanism could be completely neutralized by precisely dematerializing its key component.

The titanic forces unleashed by the explosion could even be shielded and directed away from the Polymath!

In short, none of the weapons that Ves had at his disposal had any chance of working against a Star Designer who was essentially operating in the base of her own power!

Not even his more exotic abilities could avail him against an opponent this strong. Neither Blinky nor any other spiritual trick could ever hope to impact an entity as powerful as a crown-bearing Star Designer!

Wait. That was not right.

There was one potential asset that could overcome all forms of resistance.

Emma.

Or at least, the remote summoning of Divine Irine Mox\'s companion spirit.

Ves still retained half of Emma\'s original spiritual fragment.

He had a great amount of respect towards the power of a god pilot. With his knowledge of cultivation, he understood that these pinnacle warriors were expressly designed as the perfect counters against every other variety of True God!

The power of a god pilot at close proximity should be more than enough to stop the Polymath, but that was assuming that Emma was at full strength.

Ves tried to estimate the power that Emma could muster from the half-depleted fragment and tried to guess whether that was enough to overcome the Polymath\'s formidable defenses.

Although his calculations were dubious to say the least, he did not feel that Emma had a good chance of burning through all of the obstacles and successfully stop the Polymath from completing her plan.

There simply wasn\'t enough power. Everything had a price, and the weak fragment that Ves had stored in the Vault of Eternity could not sustain an expenditure of this magnitude!

Besides, pulling a remote version of Emma out of his sleeve would expose a lot of hidden capabilities and associations.

In the worst case scenario, the Polymath might deduce that Ves actually possessed his own fragment of the Metal Scroll all along!

Still, now that the situation had come to this point, Ves did not feel like holding back anymore.

So what if the Polymath recognized him as a competitor?

So what if people discovered that Ves secretly maintained ties with a Rubarthan god pilot?

So what if unleashing a god pilot in this space might cause the conflict to escalate to the point where the entire research battlecarrier would get torn apart?

In his opinion, anything was better than rolling over and allowing the Polymath to fulfill her own plan!

However, just as Ves was about to make a move that had a high likelihood of failing, a completely unexpected development occurred.

Just as the splinter kingdom started to pulse into a faster and more lively rhythm, a dark and inexplicable shadow rose up from its damaged grounds!

"What is happening!?"

"It doesn\'t appear to be the work of the Polymath."

The large shadow began to morph into a more defined shape in the projected image.

The invisible conflict between the Xenotechnician and the Polymath did not pause, but it was clear from their human expressions that neither of them anticipated this development.

As the shadow gained more definition, it began to convey a sense of weight and majesty that Ves could not explain.

As the head of the shadow began to take on the shape of an odd ancient helmet with a very defined human-like face mask, an undeniable aura of history and sacredness emanated from this odd and unexpected entity.

It wasn\'t until the translucent figure\'s helmet took on a distinctive shape that the Xenotechnician and several mechers sitting in the front reacted with shock!

They recognized the shadow\'s identity!

"Who is it?!" Someone asked! "Is it a god pilot?!"

"No." The Xenotechnician spoke with wonder and realization. "If my analysis is correct, each of you have the honor of witnessing a remnant of the Seleucid, one of the thirteen Progenitors of Mechs. He is one of the great heroes of the human race during the end of the Age of Conquest. Each of us owe an immense amount of gratitude towards him and his fellow Progenitors for creating the original Kingdom of Mechs."

Every single mech pilot and mech designer automatically bowed in respect, and maybe even worship.

This was an act of instinct to the ignorant, and an act of voluntary intent to those in the know.

Even the Xenotechnician the Polymath couldn\'t help but tone down their invisible struggle for a moment in order to pay their respects!

Once the shadow roused from its hibernation and stock of the immediate surroundings, its solid masked expression turned towards the Polymath.

Not the Star representing the Polymath in another realm, but the physical body of the Star Designer that currently bore a resonating metal crown!

The shadow studied the crowned woman for a moment.

Everyone held their breaths in anticipation of what the remnant of an ancient historical figure had to say towards this messy situation!

A solemn and inexplicably sacred air descended onto the assembly hall as the shadow finally issued its judgment.

The shadow did not produce any sounds, but managed to convey its meaning through a spiritual broadcast that was especially familiar to Ves.

[Unworthy.]

This was what the remnant of the Seleucid managed to impart in a manner that transcended ordinary words and language.

The mystical entity managed to pack a lot of additional meaning in this word. It not only signified that the Seleucid would have judged the Polymath to be a disappointment, but that she had no right to lay claim to the off-shoot of a kingdom that he and twelve of his peers had sacrificed their very lives to create!

The shadow did not confine its response to words alone. The splinter kingdom that was tied to its existence seemed to resist the influence exerted by the Polymath!

The pulse weakened as the crown seemed to lose connection with the kingdom. It was as if the Seleucid was actively closing the door to any attempt to usurp its control!

A long and heavy moment of tension ensued after the shadow cast its judgment.

Though nobody really wanted to shift their attention away from what might very well be the last legacy imparted by one of the legendary Progenitors of Mechs, everyone knew that the Polymath\'s response had become extremely critical at the moment!