The Mech Touch

The Kingdom of Mechs was splitting apart.

There was nothing that the people of the Red Ocean could do to prevent this course of events from unfolding.

The distant Star Designers responsible for commanding the kingdom to inflict so much harm to itself were all grimly united in their purpose.

Seventy of them apparently commanded enough authority within the Kingdom of Mechs to push through this drastic change with or without the cooperation of their peers in the Red Ocean!

That simple fact galled Ves and a lot of other people who happened to be stuck in the new frontier.

The red humans had all been caught up in an accident that exposed them to a lot of new and indeterminate alien adversaries.

It was difficult for them to resist all of this opposition when they were badly outnumbered. One of the few reasons why they still managed to retain a sense of confidence was that they knew that they had their brothers and sisters in the Milky Way backing them up from a distance.

Even if the so-called 'original humans' were only able to help by figuring stuff out and transmitting a lot of data back to the red humans, that was already incredibly useful as both groups relied heavily on technological advances to stay ahead of the competition.

Although splitting up the Kingdom of Mechs did not necessarily cut off all of the existing communication channels between the two sides, the collective action taken by the Star Designers of the Milky Way conveyed an intent of finality.

The original humans had probably planned to cut off the other intact communication channels as well. Anything that directly tied the Red Ocean to the Milky Way had to be invalidated in order to remove as many chances for the mysterious and powerful alien threats from piggy-backing off the connections and ending up in the old galaxy somehow!

Of course, this did not stop a truly powerful and capable alien threat from figuring out where red humanity originally came from. The Milky Way Galaxy had radiated its light all the way to the Virgo Cluster 50 million years ago. Even accounting for all of the drift in the motion of stellar objects that had occurred throughout this time, it shouldn't be too difficult for an intelligent alien race to determine the location of humanity's home galaxy.

Getting there was another problem, though. The real purpose of all of the original Star Designers was to prevent any powerful energy-based life forms from using any existing ties to expand their influence to the Milky Way Galaxy in a completely unexpected manner that could not be defended against.

Whether their caution was justified or not, the 70 Star Designers essentially did not want to take on this gamble!

As Ves continued to remain stunned after he processed all of these implications, another change occurred in the visual image projected by the Polymath.

The silhouettes of comparably tiny mechs started to appear in the surroundings. Many of them looked strange and abnormal compared to the machines that Ves was accustomed to working with, but none of them were truly unfamiliar to the eyes of an experienced mech designer.

"The god mechs have appeared!"

The appearance of any god pilot and god mech was normally a cause for celebration for people.

No one in the assembly hall felt particularly jubilant at the time.

Different from the Star Designers who were in the process of affecting the Kingdom of Mechs, the god mechs clearly conveyed a sense of individual sovereignty.

Each god pilot was like a personal kingdom unto themselves. Ves understood a bit better why these powerful warriors could no longer truly coexist with the Kingdom of Mechs anymore.

They simply couldn't mix with each other!

Even so, just because the god pilots could no longer become a part of the Kingdom of Mechs did not mean that they could not assist it in other ways.

Right now, several dozen of the vague projections of different god mechs formed a loose sphere around the kingdom. It looked as if they positioned themselves in a protective formation that could defend against intrusions from any direction.

Not all of the god mechs assumed this protective formation.

They instead lingered outside of it as if they had been left out of the loop.

As Ves tried to cast his spiritual senses forward, he could vaguely identify the familiar mark of the Destroyer of Worlds.

Having met her in 'person', Ves had a clear recollection of her domain and power!

It took a bit more trouble to figure out the identities of the remaining god mechs left outside.

Each of them matched with the known god pilots who had become stuck in the Red ocean as well.

Whatever secret deployment they were undertaking did not prevent them from getting a closer look of what was taking place!

A few of the outside god mechs tried to move closer, but that triggered an aggressive response from the defenders.

The dynamic was clear to see here. No words were needed to describe what was going on with the two groups of god pilots.

The apex warriors of the Milky Way were in on the scheme. Not all of the god pilots of the Milky Way had showed up, but enough of them had agreed to participate in the plan that they could stop any other opposition from interfering with the ongoing separation process.

With just 8 god pilots on the side of red humanity, there was nothing the Destroyer of Worlds, the Light of Sol and the rest could do to stop the original humans from cutting off a lifeline!

"This... is a tragedy." Ves whispered in a tone that conveyed his utter helplessness towards this situation.

"I do not think there is much our leading defenders can do for us anyway." The neighboring Master Mech Designer shook his head. "The Star Designers are tasked with managing the affairs of the Kingdom of Mechs from within. The god pilots are solely assigned to defend it from exterior threats. The reason for this strict division is because the former are creators while the latter are destroyers. If the god pilots who fight on our behalf ever get close enough to the kingdom, they cannot do much but exacerbate the damage. They cannot undo the damage and reverse the separation process. The most they can do is threaten to inflict extensive damage to the other parts of the Kingdom of Mechs while they still remain within reach unless the original humans stop this scheme."

Understanding lit up in Ves' eyes. "1 see now. The god pilots of the Milky Way don't want this to happen, so they have shown up to prevent any retaliations for this action. It... is depressing to see our fellow humans on the other side treat us like threats to be guarded against. Where is the solidarity between our people?"

The Master Mech Designer snorted. "The necessity of survival trumps any obligation of solidarity. This is exactly the sort of action that the Survivalists over in the Milky Way would orchestrate. The Polymath likely conspired with her closest peers in the other galaxy to make this happen. Both parties will gain what they want from completing the separation. The original Survivalists will be able to increase the security of their home galaxy while the Polymath will gain the opportunity to enact her ostensible plan to take control of the splinter kingdom."

Damn!

These Survivalists were a real piece of work!

Ves previously thought that they were among the more reasonable people of the Mech Trade Association, but it turned out that they truly had no limits as long as they believed that humanity, or at least the portion that was most relevant to them, had come under threat!

He found it rather ironic that the greatest enemy of the Survivalists in the Red Ocean turned out to be the Survivalists of the Milky Way.

The worst part of it all was that Ves could not fault any of them for the decisions they had made.

lust as Ves intended to strike off the Unity Plan to advance his personal interests, the Survivalists of both sides were merely looking out after their own people.

The key here was that the red Survivalists and the original Survivalists no longer stood up for the exact same group of people anymore.

From the moment red humanity turned into a distinct population group, the interests of the two branches of humanity no longer aligned with each other anymore.

Red humanity wanted to borrow the help of original humanity to survive the impending calamities.

Original humanity did not want to get sucked into red humanity's extinction-level problems!

Ves lowered his eyes in depressed realization.

As the diverging interests between the two branches of humanity grew stronger, a separation became increasingly more certain.

Even if the Polymath did not pull off this extreme stunt today, the Star Designers and god pilots of the Milky Way would have committed this action sooner or later.

This was because their ultimate responsibility was to protect the human race. Their human race.

The consequences of their decision became increasingly more grave.

The cracks in the large city wall started to show large rents and gaps that couldn't be plugged by tossing a couple new bricks into place.

Now that the separation had reached this stage, the damage started to pile up faster. It was as if the initial act of tearing apart the kingdom was the hardest, but once more and more weaknesses emerged, it became a lot easier to continue the tearing process!

All of this induced an increasingly greater sense of distress to any mech professional!

"So this is it, huh?" Ves shakily commented. "The original humans are kicking us all away in order to save their sorry hides. What a messy and abrupt divorce."

"Divorce is an apt word." The Master Mech Designer nodded with an expression that showed that he had already made peace with this new reality. "If I were you, I wouldn't linger too much on an event that is already set in stone. I would worry more about what happens afterwards. Once the splinter kingdom appears, the Polymath won't remain as a bystander anymore. This is the time when she will have to make a proactive move if she wants to complete her coup."

Damn, he was right!

While there was nothing that the red humans could do to stop the actions of the white humans, the story was different once they were all by themselves!

Even though the Polymath had secretly conspired with the white humans behind everyone else's backs, once the separation was complete, she would have no more backing from remote anymore!

Ves looked around all of the key figures in this assembly hall.

A constant stream of menacing looking guards had poured in from the side entrances that appeared from the walls.

Larger defensive constructs as well as genuine first-class demi-mechs quietly emerged from behind as well!

No real full-sized mechs had shown up so far, but Ves was sure that they were in the process of forming into ranks outside of the hull of the Khamatar Reign.

"Will all of this be enough?"

The mechers seated around Ves made contemptuous noises.

"Do you think the Polymath is the sort of person who has failed to take these measures into account? If she has decided to take this drastic course of action, then she most definitely took all of our possible reactions into account as well. No amount of firepower or technological solution can defeat one of our most powerful mech designers in a direct confrontation, especially when she has made adequate preparations for this eventuality. The only possible individuals who can stop her are the Xenotechnician or the Fist of Defiance."

The Fist of Defiance may have shown his presence in the projected image of the Kingdom of Mechs and its immediate surroundings, but it did not look as if he could physically zip back to the Khamatar Reign in a timely manner!

That left the Xenotechnician. Ves did not forget about the impressive demonstration that the old and wily Star Designer displayed during their first meeting with each other.

Did this old geezer possess the means to stop the Polymath from completing her attempted takeover of red humanity?