The Mech Touch

Blinky froze in shock.

Ves made a belated realization.

He intended to solve the conflict between Rosa Orfan and the Prophet's Bane. Even if it was far too difficult to find a permanent resolution, he should at least be able to cobble together a compromise that would let them set aside their differences for a short amount of time.

Yet before he could intervene and negotiate a temporary settlement, he was suddenly confronted by a rebellion from the current controller of his true body!

Ves found it ironic that he was confronted by the same kind of problem, only this time it affected him directly.

Now that he thought about it, his issue with the Dark Apostle was far too similar to the ongoing conflict between Saint Orfan and her hostile D-mech.

In both cases, two separate individuals were forced to share the same vessel. No matter whether it was metallic or organic in construction, the fundamental problem was essentially the same.

None of the four individuals could accept their current state of dual occupancy!

Saint Orfan's situation was a little better. Her strong willpower normally put her slightly ahead of her adversary, allowing her to remain in charge of the Riot Mark III most of the time.

If not for the fact that she was fighting against a completely alien qi cultivator who happened to specialize in mental attacks, the Prophet's Bane would never be able to gain the upper hand during this battle!

As for Ves, he had forged an uneven compromise with the Dark Apostle.

Neither of them found their current agreement to be acceptable.

Ves was the original owner of his true body.

Why should he be forced to relinquish control over it at all?

He had already been generous enough to offer usage rights during the times when he was normally asleep or when he was engaged in battle!

Yet the fact that Ves effectively hogged the majority of the available quotas had long dissatisfied the Dark Apostle!

The personality spawned from the evolving true body had long resented the unfair distribution agreement. He had only recently come into existence and was filled with the wonder and curiosity of a newborn life form.

How could the Ascended Giant possibly enjoy his state of life when he was only able to gain control when Ves was already done with his daily work and chores?

The Dark Apostle was done with tolerating this uneven distribution!

This was why despite all of the risks and dangers of causing trouble at this critical moment, he no longer hesitated to defy Ves' intention!

He knew that he had chosen the worst moment to act defiant from the mech designer's perspective!

Only this way would the Ascended Giant be able to maximize his leverage and gain more favorable concessions!

In this situation where every second mattered, the last thing Ves wanted to do was to waste a lot of time on trying to fix the unresolved body ownership issue with his other self.

Since both of them were still technically two sides of the same coin, both sides generally understood each other's thoughts and calculations.

Ves knew that the Dark Apostle would absolutely be willing to take a stand even if it ended up sinking all of their chances of obtaining victory on this battlefield.

After all, compared to Ves who had lived for over 4 decades and built an entire clan out of his own two hands, the Dark Apostle did not have much of an attachment to his original self's empire.

The giant leader hardly possessed any love or appreciation for the Larkinson Clan. He also cared little for Ves' many friends, allies and associates across human-occupied space.

The Dark Apostle only truly cared about the Phase Lord Department of the Red Collective. The latter was his personal empire and the true foundation of his power base.

Even if it was currently riddled with lots of human meddlers, that did not change the fact that its core was still made up of hundreds of Ascended Giants!

Race still mattered.

Humans only cared about humans to the point where they weren't even willing to treat dwarves with the same level of respect.

Giants had even less reason to measure weak and puny humans as if they were standing at the same height. All of their biological instincts screamed that tiny beings should be treated as ants.

If they weren't former humans themselves who knew quite well how powerful human civilization had become, the Ascended Giants would have long declared complete independence from their former race!

In any case, just because the Dark Apostle understood the disparity between humans and giants a lot better than his peers did not mean he had discarded his biases entirely!

His pride as an Ascended Giant was practically hard-coded in his personality!

He could never bring himself to admit that the giant race was equal or inferior to the human race!

At most, he could only persuade himself that the Ascended Giants only suffered a temporary disadvantage because they had only come into existence for a short amount of time.

Just like how humanity during the Age of Stars still needed to get its bearings and complete its initial technological accumulation, the Dark Apostle strongly believed that he and his fellow giants merely had to bow their heads for a couple decades before they could completely take off like a rocket!

Blinky grimaced while shaking his head.

Ves found this notion to be utterly unrealistic. The giants enjoyed none of the advantages that humanity possessed during that historic period. Only fools like the giants themselves would believe that they would be able to reign over the Red Ocean in the new age!

Yet unrealistic or not, the Dark Apostle would never budge from this stance. As long as that remained the case, he would never give up on his bottom line! That was an act that only a member of a minor race would engage in. The giants already comprised a major race, just like humans themselves!

Knowing this, Ves knew that if he wanted to achieve a quick resolution, he only had two ways to go forward.

Option one was to tear up their 'peace agreement' and suppress the Dark Apostle by force!

Option two was to give up and essentially give the Dark Apostle what he wanted.

Ves briefly contemplated the first option, but quickly discarded it from his mind.

He had no idea how such a conflict would unfold.

Ves did not have the confidence to be able to kill or eject the Dark Apostle from their shared true body.

He may possess a lot of esoteric knowledge, techniques and abilities, but he did not excel in this kind of combat. He was far too afraid of harming himself just as much as his intended target!

All of the uncertainties involved with going to war with oneself prompted Ves to embrace the second option.

Although it also sounded unpalatable, Ves at least hoped that the Dark Apostle would not be too greedy.

"I know what you want." He said.

"Do you truly know what I want?" The Dark Apostle smiled sardonically underneath his helmet. "Say it, then. Do not play any games. If you are truly sincere, then demonstrate it to me right now."

Blinky let out a sigh. "I know… you want complete possession of our true body. I have long objected to your demand because it was originally mine to begin with. However, I understand our current sharing arrangement cannot be sustained in the long term. I haven't fully realized this until now, but we will never fully be able to get along and leave in peace as long as we do not remain in full control over our corporeal form. We are like two tigers sharing the same mountain. Our pride and egos alone will never allow us to maintain this awkward state for long."

"Hmmm… good enough. I agree with your words. What is important is what you are willing to do next. It is easy to describe the problem. It is much harder to do something about it. As far as I am concerned, I will never give up my claim of ownership."

"You are talking about something that was mine long before you obtained a claim to begin with." Ves retorted. "Also, just because you gained a somewhat legitimate claim does not mean that my own claim is invalidated. I am the original. You are the interloper."

"I do not care about your history or your personal opinions." The giant scoffed. "This true body is mine. It belongs to me. Only I can fully utilize its muscles and phasewater organs. I am a far better fighter than you could ever become. Now, are we going to waste more time arguing, or are we going to skip to the stage where you acknowledge my right of possession?"

"...fine."

"What? Can you repeat that? I didn't catch your latest words."

"I said fine! You can have it, okay?!"