The Mech Touch

The process of merging the material realm and the imaginary realm at the space around the portal proceeded steadily at first.

His mother continually poured power in the spiritual engine that he and his mother had designed. As a collaborative work, the creation encompassed both of their strengths.

Ves provided the mechanisms that transformed power in a way that allowed it to do more work at much less cost.

Cynthia added some very advanced spiritual components that took in the power and accomplished the feat they were trying to achieve.

He found it very inspirational to work with his mother on such a project! If not for their many disagreements, Ves would have cherished the experience even more.

Through the quick collaboration, Ves also gained a better sense of his mother's spiritual understanding.

Just as he expected, her depth and heritage was very extensive. If Ves compared it to his profession, then his mother was probably analogous to a Senior or a Master while he was just a Novice!

The gulf between them was too big!

However, Ves actually realized that this comparison was not accurate. While it was true that his mother possessed a lot of advanced knowledge, she didn't specialize in spiritual engineering.

Most of what she learned was geared towards applications other than creating spiritual products. While she could do it, she mainly did so to create something simple. She did not specialize in it. What she actually excelled at was a mystery.

Even so, her high understanding of a lot of profound rules granted her the ability to create spiritual products and components that simply defied his understanding. They were very specific, but also very powerful in their narrow roles.

The spiritual engine could have never existed if Ves worked on it alone. He lacked his mother's extensive spiritual foundation. Even when his mother created the few components he needed to make the spiritual engine worked, Ves simply couldn't see through what she was doing. There was no way for him to copy her efforts and replicate her work!

"I hope it will work."

He waited as his mother inputted more and more power into the spiritual engine. Through principles that he didn't fully understand, the physical dimensions and the spiritual dimensions were indeed moving closer. He could feel it in his bones.

In fact, the creeping sense of danger made him feel very uncomfortable!

Seeing that his involvement wasn't needed at this time, he decided to talk to his father. As a spiritual caveman, he played no role at all in the proceedings.

"Dad.. it looks like you and your mech are doing well."

"We are." Ryncol replied with evident satisfaction. "Your work is very unique, but great. I had some doubts about piloting a bestial mech, but I have grown comfortable in piloting it. While it is a temperamental machine, its power is beyond compare, especially against the opponents that we typically face in the Nyxian Gap."

Ves felt very happy that he made his father pleased with his work. His dad was one of his most important customers as far as he was concerned!

"The mech is not entirely safe to pilot, though. There are aspects about the neural interface and other elements that have not been designed with maximum safety in mind."

"I'm aware. Our resident mech designer has already explained the potential risks to me. The mech is very different from what it was from the start. We've taken extensive advantage of its nanomachines. Our head designer has also retooled it into an expert mech that suits my capabilities. You don't need to worry for me. This mech has served me well so far and it will continue to be my fighting partner."

Through their brief discussion, Ves discovered that the Devil Tiger he created had already taken on a life of its own. Not only had it developed a close bond with his father, some other mech designer had tweaked and upgraded the machine extensively.

"Who is this mech designer you are talking about?" Ves asked with a hint of jealousy in his tone.

"That is not for me to say. It's better that you don't know, Ves. All I can tell you is that the mech you made is in good hands. I make sure that none of the changes alters the mech too much. I don't get as much enjoyment in piloting a mech that isn't made by you. I think at least half of my strength comes from the fact that a part of you is with me in every fight."

Ves sensed the love expressed by his father. He felt warm in his heart. The affection from his family was too precious! He had missed this sensation!

The two didn't have much time to catch up with each other before his mother's efforts hit a turning point.

As the material realm and the spiritual realm began to move closer to each other, the spiritual engine experienced more and more strain. The convergence gradually slowed down until it stopped entirely.

"I can't get them to move any closer!" Cynthia strenuously said, causing Ves to snap out of his leisurely conversation with his father. "I.. don't… have enough power!"

His heart sank as he heard this. He hoped the engine was ingenious enough to accomplish what they wanted without too much effort, but it wasn't enough.

The immense vortex had become more substantial around the portal. Ves even saw signs that it was slightly beginning to impact the portal. It wasn't enough, though. The realms needed to overlap even more!

"How can we solve this, mother?"

"Isn't that obvious?! I need power, any power! Do you have any more life essence?"

"You took my only stash of it away from me already!"

His mother's giant mutated face frowned. "If you can't provide me with any further strength, then I can supply it myself. It will cost me, though. If I give up too much.. I won't be able to maintain my existence."

"NO!"

"You can't!"

Both Ves and his father objected to this solution! Neither wanted to see her die!

"We don't have any other option! We need to make our move fast. The Temple Protector is closing in. I can feel his presence nearing the portal. It won't be long before he passes through!"

Ves thought for a moment. He recalled his earlier conversation with James and the ideas he generated from it. "Wait! I may have a better way! Do you recall the Superior Mother? She has grown very strong as of late!"

"This… may work."

In order to help his mother derive power from her avatar, Ves brought forth the statue of the Superior Mother. The lightning-struck work possessed an incredibly strong association to the ancestral spirit. He was sure that bringing it to Cynthia would help.

After locating and bringing the statue out, the Devil Tiger carefully grasped the marble-like statue with its limbs and hastily flew towards Cynthia's giant energy projection.

His mother's eyes lit up as she saw and felt the statue approaching. She sensed something remarkable from it! "Throw it inside me. Do it quickly!"

The Devil Tiger did as instructed. As soon as the statue entered Cynthia's giant body, it settled right in the middle.

Soon, changes began to take place. Ves looked on with great fascination as he sensed the presence of the Superior Mother emerging from his actual mother.

The energy projection changed shape as it became a little more human! Cynthia's bearing began to grow nobler and more regal as she began to take on traits of the Hexer Supreme!

Her power grew along with these changes. Not only that, Ves sensed the shadow of an enormous collective of Hexers who earnestly believed in the greatness of the Superior Mother!

"It's working, at least for now!"

The two realms began to overlap more and more. Though the movement didn't seem very big, the vortex was drastically becoming more real!

More and more force began to impact the portal. More blue radiance began to bloom from it. Yet just as the vortex was about to surpass a critical threshold, the convergence stopped again!

"I can't!" His mother cried! "I can't.. go any further than this!"

They were still missing too much power! Even though the spiritual engine looked as if it was working at full gear, the two realms still weren't close enough! To make just a tiny bit of progress, they had to input vastly more power!

"Damnit!"

Ves rapidly tried to figure out where he could source more energy. His design spirits? They were too weak. Himself? He possessed even less energy!

"Wait, maybe this will work!"

A vague idea came to mind. Though Ves didn't feel sure about it at all, he couldn't come up with anything better. He took control of the shuttle and piloted it closer towards his mother, the portal and the active spiritual engine.

His mother didn't want him to come closer. "What are you doing, Ves!? It's dangerous here! I can take care of this problem myself!"

Though the increased pressure put him under greater strain, Ves could still bear it! "I won't lose you again, mother!"

He rose from his piloting chair and opened the hatch. He launched into space and allowed the maneuvering systems of his Unending Regalia to move him past his mother and towards the portal and the overlapping realms.

"VES! GET BACK HERE NOW!"

"No! I can do this, mom!"

The strain on his mind, body and spirit rose tremendously. If not for the B-stone layer of his armor, he would have popped by now. Even then, he couldn't get much closer.

"Seems this will have to do." He murmured.

He then proceeded to do something that caused both of his parents to be startled.

He summoned his System comm.

As the slim comm materialized onto his suit gauntlets, he stared at it for a few seconds before issuing a request.

"System… can you help us repel his threat?"

It didn't answer.

"The relic originally belongs to the Temple, Ves." His mother softly said. "It can't help you in this fight."

"Can't, or won't?"

His mother didn't answer, but Ves already knew that it was too much to hope that the System would bail him out. He felt a bit melancholic as he looked at the comm.

"Are you thinking about throwing it inside the portal?" Cynthia distressingly asked. "That won't help us at all! You're just giving what the Temple Protector wants ahead of time. He will still come and hunt us down!"

"I know. I thought about it, but I don't want to earn the System's ire."

He was sure that the System had a million different ways to kill him if he did something as brazen as that. If it was so easy to get rid of it, Ves would have already tossed it through the portal!

No, he did not think about sacrificing it. Instead, he wanted to make use of it in a different fashion.

"Faith, huh? Maybe.. faith isn't so useless after. Maybe.. I need to stop denying who I am."

He closed his eyes and concentrated his mind. He clasped the System comm between his palms.

Ves then proceeded to do something he swore he would never do in his life.

He prayed.

He opened himself up to the System comm. He roused his entire spirit and tried to embrace it in a way he had never done before.

"I may be just a mech designer, but… I am also the Holy Son. The moment I made use of the Mech Designer System, I have accepted this heavy mantle."

It didn't matter if he did so unknowingly. It didn't matter if he spent years bouncing around with the System without knowing its profound nature.

As the holder of a relic that was very likely the Metal Scroll, Ves had become a figure that was in some ways central to the Five Scrolls Compact!

Shouldn't.. the Metal Scroll be revered by every member of the Compact in and outside human space?

Shouldn't a Holy Son like him be regarded as an absolute transcendent authority within the cult?

From what he learned from various sources, only the higher ups were aware of the details of the Great Betrayal.

The lower and middle ranks were ignorant of the fact that the Metal Scroll had been lost a long time ago! As far as they were concerned, the Compact was still led by five Holy Sons who each bore the responsibility of bearing all five Sacred Scrolls!

"And many of these cultists are probably spirituality active…" He boldly guessed.

As Ves communed deeper with the System comm, he began to sense an inkling of what he sought. His extraordinary high perception of spirituality and exceptional sensitivity towards life allowed him to notice something he had never sensed before from the System.

He managed to open his eyes to a miniscule portion of the immense worship directed towards Metal Scroll!

The power of this collective worship was frighteningly powerful, but also completely inaccessible to him under ordinary circumstances. He had to move as close as possible to the space where the two realms were overlapping to even capture a trace of his immensely powerful phenomenon!

"What are you doing, Ves.. no! Don't! Only gods are able to harness this power!"

His mother had a point. The power he touched was too immense. He knew for certain that he would get crushed if he attempted to touch it. Just getting close to it was enough for him to feel as if his spirit would evaporate.

Even so, he did not lose confidence!

Ves smirked even as he maintained his concentration.

"I don't believe in gods, mother. I believe in machines!"

He proceeded to do something that he never thought about. He really didn't want to do this, but he couldn't figure out any other way to accomplish his goal.

He grasped the Grand Dynamo in his mind, ripped it out, and threw it towards the channel where an immense amount of faith was being directed towards the Metal Scroll!

The Grand Dynamo held out remarkably well, but the power of faith was too strong. It flooded the powerful construct, causing it to swell with far too much energy that it was never designed to take.

It ruptured!

Ves hastily flew backwards, and the Devil Tiger had rapidly swooped close in order to grasp him and bring him away as far as possible.

Even then, the immense explosion that happened behind them practically flung the mech out!

In the meantime, the close overlap between the two realms had abruptly become total due to the immense spiritual explosion!

Cynthia Larkinson looked on with amazement as the vortex had fully entered the same plane as the portal. Immense corrosive spiritual winds and other dangerous forces instantly buffeted the portal.

The initial explosion triggered by his son had also inflicted considerable damage, thereby opening up crevices that the corrosive winds eagerly expanded!

Rage and emotion pulsed from the energy supporting the portal as it increasingly dimmed. Even if only a small portion of the vortex was crashing against it, the corrosive nature of the imaginary realm's winds happened to be incredibly dangerous to the portal's integrity!

A soundless explosion took place as the portal collapsed! Cynthia became shocked as she perceived the rage and fear of the enemy that was falling into the cracks between dimensions!

The danger had passed!