The Mech Touch

Ves was supposed to speak at this time.

If everything proceeded according to expectations, then this was supposed to be the time where he announced a proxy vote distribution that would cause one of the plans to get ejected from consideration.

Yet instead of allowing him to announce his decision in front of the entire assembly hall, the Polymath behaved in a highly atypical manner and broke the rules of this voting session by speaking out of turn!

For a moment, everyone became paralyzed as they couldn't process what had just happened.

They couldn't process the fact that the Polymath of all people had made this seemingly impulsive decision!

"Pardon, Your Excellency?"

"No." The regally dressed woman repeated with greater emphasis this time. "This farce has proceeded long enough. When we initially conceived of this method of determination in order to break the deadlock between our proposals, we chose to impart the wisest and most experienced individuals aligned with our faction the power to decide. This process had become perverted by the irregular actions of 89 of them. Instead of relying on their own wisdom to guide their votes, they instead abandoned their intended duty by passing it on to the least qualified to make this important choice."

The Polymath clearly did not like the arguments put forth by all of those delegates to justify their actions.

The Xenotechnician couldn't help but stand up in the defense of the process.

"None of us could have foreseen that the rules would be bent in this manner, but that does not mean it is any less valid. You may entertain doubts about Professor Larkinson's suitability to cast his vote on this occasion, but the fact remains that he is an officially recognized tier 3 galactic citizen based on contributions. It is also a fact that the rules allow for him to hold the right to cast votes on behalf of others by proxy. There is no limit to the amount of proxy votes he can exercise, so what has happened so far is still in order."

That was the wrong thing to say to the Polymath.

For the first time she showed up in public, the famed Star Designer began to display a hint of contempt that was slightly amplified by her immensely powerful domain!

"This is the problem with humans! Too many of you have an unexplainable compulsion to break the rules for all sorts of irrational reasons. You also follow rules that have become detrimental or out of alignment with actual reality. Our flawed society is harmed by too many incidents of both cases. This voting session is a strong example where the combination of intention and rules result in a fundamental perversion of what should have been a serious process to enact a plan to guide red humanity to greatness."

More and more people looked disturbed. They were all clever enough to understand the Polymath's argument more or less. Perhaps they thought about intervening themselves, but only dismissed this course of action because they lacked the might and gravitas to make themselves heard.

The Polymath was different. Her power and status were so high that she could not be dismissed when she wanted to attract everyone's attention to herself and her arguments!

The white-clad woman rose higher in the air as she spoke down on the tens of thousands of conference goers.

Each of them craned their necks upwards and gazed up at the imperiously powerful Star Designer with both awe and uncertainty.

"The motivation for proposing the Unity Plan is to solve the fundamental inadequacies holding red humanity back from reaching its full potential. I initially decided to follow the normal process and put my trust in the wisdom and judgment of all of the delegates. I miscalculated. It was a mistake to trust that you would recognize that our societal structure has degenerated far too much to function properly anymore. The dysfunction that has occurred on this day proves that all of the flaws that I have identified in red humanity extends to our gathering as well."

A strange sort of energy started to build up in the background. The most powerful Master Mech Designers and ace pilots started to frown and look around in concern as they started to get a hunch that the Polymath was not merely grandstanding at the moment!

The woman's frustration became immediately evident on her expression. She did not bother to maintain a cool and impassive demeanor anymore.

The Polymath had become well and truly angry at this time!

"Listening to you distort what should otherwise be a pure and straightforward voting session has made me acknowledge the truth that respecting your input has been an erroneous decision. Too many of you have disappointed my expectations by acting in a manner that is unbecoming of your rights and status. I have no choice but to conclude that it is in the best interest of our faction and red humanity as a whole to disregard this exercise in futility and take unilateral action."

What?!

Unilateral action?!

While everyone still remained affected by shock, the Xenotechnician turned in the air and faced his younger female colleague with a warning glint in his glowing eyes.

His incredibly unfathomable domain started to unveil itself, causing him to become a lot larger than life in this assembly hall. The power of Assimilation washed over every stunned attendee.

It was never a good sign for someone to start showing off his power in what should have been a purely verbal dispute.

Once people started to bring other factors in the argument, the chances were great that both sides would continue to escalate their warnings and threats!

Ves started to feel a lot more apprehensive than before. How could he possibly know that his thoughts would lead the Polymath to flip the table all of the sudden? This was turning into a disaster that could completely damage the Survivalist Faction and everyone else who depended on this organization for guidance!

Just as predicted, the Polymath started to unveil a portion of her own Truth domain, which prevented the Xenotechnician from dominating the entire space.

Both sides challenged each other in silence. It became clear that the two Star Designers must have been trying to argue against each other through a private communication channel or directly through their powerful domains.

Whatever the case, it did not seem as if the Polymath was ready to back down at all! Her expression became increasingly more aggressive while the Xenotechnician looked more and more upset that his arguments weren't having the intended effect.

Eventually, the Polymath flared with power!

Her domain not only bounced back the Xenotechnician's own influence, but also caused her to shed much of her human facade and appear as her actual self!

Even though her corporeal human body and outfit looked exactly the same, her overbearingly powerful domain caused her to expose her true nature as an energy-based life form.

The Polymath currently conveyed an incredible sense of distance between herself and the rest of the people in the hall!

She literally considered herself to be superior to humans in every way that mattered! She made this clear through the waves of truth that pressed down on everyone!

Though the high-ranking mech pilots and many other strong-willed individuals managed to resist this unwelcome idea, many of the younger and less resilient individuals couldn't entirely negate this effect.

They started to think that perhaps the Polymath had a point!

She was obviously so incredibly intelligent and powerful that it truly made sense for her to make all of the important decisions!

When it came to qualifications, no one deserved to exercise greater power than the smartest living 'human' in the Red Ocean!

However, if the Polymath thought that flaring her domain was enough to remove all of her opposition, then she was dearly mistaken.

"I SHALL NEVER BOW TO TYRANTS!"

Numerous ace pilots flared their own Saint Kingdoms as they stood up to defy the True God that sought to make all of the decisions on their behalf!

"You are not my empress!"

"With all due respect, I do not believe you are the best candidate to lead our civilization anymore. I retract my vote!"

More individuals joined their ranks as they relied on various means to maintain their wits and summon enough courage to defy a Star Designer that had crossed the line!

Just as more and more people began to display open opposition to the Polymath, the woman who had generated all of this controversy completely disregarded how much animosity she had engendered among the people she previously counted upon to support her endeavors.

The sense of distance between this mighty True God and everyone else never became so stark.

Though the Xenotechnician may have the power to stop the Polymath from acting in such an unbridled fashion, he was clearly holding back for whatever reason.

Perhaps he was afraid of escalating this conflict until it sundered the Survivalist Faction in pieces.

Perhaps he still held out hope that he could persuade the Polymath to see reason and step back from this precipice.

Perhaps he was afraid that they might begin to employ their incredibly powerful and destructive weapons, thereby putting everyone within the Khamatar Reign at risk!

The Polymath did not look as if he was giving the Xenotechnician any regard. She did not even bother to stare in the older Star Designer's anymore.

Instead, she spread out her arms and began to activate a power that caused every single mech pilot and mech designer to feel a deep and concerning thrum in their hearts.

"The time has come to break our shackles from our past. Behold the root of our power! Let me lay bare the grand design that connects both branches of humanity together!"

To the shock of both young and old, an incredibly bright and powerful spiritual manifestation appeared in front of her floating form!

Every mech pilot and mech designer couldn't help but feel a deep and fundamental sense of utter awe and respect towards the visualization of a great existence that they had always known but never truly become aware of until today.

"The Kingdom of Mechs."

Ves and every other member of the mech community couldn't help but feel both awed and horrified at this impressive display.

The visual appearance of the kingdom looked unlike any mortal understanding of this word. It looked more like a dramatized interpretation of an ancient city surrounded by walls.

There were so many individual features and touches that spoke of careful design, exquisite artistry and endless symbolism.

It was too much! No one could possibly analyze the entirety of the Kingdom of mechs in a short amount of time!

If that wasn't enough, the Kingdom of Mechs also contained a lot of different energies or forces that caused it to convey an incredible sense of power.

The Kingdom was not just a fancy location, but a real site of power that existed on a completely different plane of existence!

The Polymath had just employed her vast power to project a fraction of its actual state in this assembly hall.

Once the image of the Kingdom of Mechs became seared into everyone's sight, a strange development took place.

Different Stars started to appear above the kingdom. These points of lights twinkled with mystery and conveyed a variety of different powers so long as anyone focused their attention on them for a while.

"No..." The Xenotechnician uttered as he began to look horrified when he realized the purpose of this action.

The Polymath's star-like eyes shone with cold determination as she addressed her audience once again.

"The Kingdom of Mechs has served humanity well for over four centuries. However, its original purpose has been superseded by the Great Severing. After conducting a lengthy discussion with many of my fellow Star Designers who continue to reside in the Milky Way Galaxy, we have ultimately decided that it is best to cut off this link between our two groups. Red humanity is in grave danger, and may very well become extinct in the following decades. We must not allow our distant cousins in the Milky Way to suffer the same fate and fall victim to our own failings. The only reasonable course of action that we can undertake to ensure that at least one branch of humans will survive is to sever the link."

"NOOOO! STOP THIS MADNESS BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE, POLYMATH!"

"The decision is not in my hands, old friend. Our esteemed colleagues in the Milky Way have established enough of a majority to initiate this necessary act on their end. COMMENCE THE SEPARATION!"

The seventy or so Stars hovering above the Kingdom of Mechs began to take collective action.

They conveyed a unified command or intention towards the walled city below.

Every mech pilot and mech designer began to feel a spike of pain from their fundamental sources of power!

The reason for that was because a portion of the walls of the mighty Kingdom of Mechs had begun to crack!

For the first time in human history, the most powerful construct of their race had incurred damage, and it happened to be self-inflicted!

The Star Designers of the Milky Way had chosen to sever the portion of their own kingdom that was tied to the lost people of red humanity!