The Mech Touch

The status of the Fist of Defiance and the Polymath couldn't be more different.

One was a powerful god pilot who possessed such domineering will that it had become the primary force that sustained his existence.

The other was a Star Designer who was not only known as a prolific inventor, but also happened to be a failed tyrant whose attempted coup d'etat had left her in disgrace.

Philosophically, they were even further apart. Even if they were both members of the Survivalist Faction, they believed in very different solutions to save red humanity from getting overrun and wiped out from existence.

It was difficult for anyone to discern the Polymath's true motives and intentions at this time. This hyper-intelligent Star Designer shouldn't have been a person who was prone to madness and megalomania, but she surprised everyone during the Survivalist conference.

Still, the fact that she was still aligned with red humanity and plainly acknowledged her defeat meant that she did not receive any heavy punishment.

Certainly, the loss of reputation and the complete breakdown of her expansive network was a blow to her power and influence, but a Star Designer was force onto itself.

Perhaps lesser mortals still needed to rely on lots of alliances and mutual interests in order to get stuff done, but True Gods like the Polymath no longer needed such unnecessary entanglements!

The Fist of Defiance even suspected that the Polymath deliberately accounted for this outcome just so that she could make a clean break with her past burdens and relationships.

No matter what, the Fist of Defiance never fully trusted the Polymath from beginning to end.

Every Star Designer tended to disgust him a bit. They were way too clever and scheming by nature. The vast majority of them had never seen a lick of true combat in their life. Everything they knew about warfare was through second-hand information and the occasional human-to-human brain interface nonsense.

It was a pity that their relationship had deteriorated to this point. The Fist of Defiance previously respected the Polymath for becoming a rising pillar of the Survivalist Faction.

Alas, her ego and her overreliance on data turned her into a creature that did more harm than good, at least as far as he was concerned.

Was he any better, though?

The Fist of Defiance had no doubts about his beliefs, policies and convictions. Nobody became a god pilot while still having questions about himself. He was even more stubborn about pursuing his goals to the end than a Star Designer like the Polymath!

Yet that did not mean that he lacked self-awareness. He was more than cognizant of what kind of person he had turned into. Several centuries of fighting and training had allowed him to comprehend his psyche on a deeper level.

The Fist of Defiance was a god pilot who preferred to solve problems with his fists rather than his brain.

Both literally and figuratively, he always tried to forge ahead by applying the most direct application of force as possible.

The passing of his seemingly idiotic Deep Strike Plan was just the latest in his long line of bull-headed accomplishments!

Since red humanity united around his vision, his status changed considerably.

People already looked up to him for obvious reasons, but ever since he returned to human-occupied space, the folk practically revered the architect of the Deep Strike Plan!

So many common folk regarded the Fist of Defiance as the father of red humanity that the god pilot had no choice but to accept the responsibility that came with this title.

Even if the Survivalist Faction along with every major human bloc explicitly rejected the drive towards centralization as proposed by the Polymath, the current status of the Fist of Defiance exceeded that of any other god pilot or Star Designer.

His words had ten times the amount of political weight than before.

He could no longer indulge himself and take action without thinking it through.

A fast-growing political movement began to form across human-occupied space that espoused his ideals!

All of these new burdens did not cause the Fist of Defiance to regret the actions that led to this outcome.

God pilots never regretted their choices.

What he did find troubling was how to proceed from here. Nobody wanted him to become a tyrant or a monarch of red humanity, the Fist himself included.

Yet his intuition and his foresight vaguely hinted that even if he did nothing else, there was a chance that red humanity would slide in this direction.

Was it right for him to become the leader of a race that had never responded well to total unification in the past?

The man felt repulsed by the very thought of becoming the figurehead of his race and civilization.

Perhaps that sounded like a dream come true to control freaks like the Polymath. They would kill to be in his shoes!

Yet the Fist of Defiance would gladly trade places with another leader so that he could go back to bashing alien skulls and cracking open alien warships like eggs-

The rage and aggression building up inside his heart could not be contained without limit.

These destructive forces constantly tempered his willpower, but there was a limit to how much it could improve.

He did not belong in Bridgehead One.

Instead of babysitting the Polymath and guarding the greater beyonder gate, the Fist of Defiance yearned to go back to the frontlines so that he could fist more phase whales!

If only those alien whales weren't so damn good at hiding inside their secret pocket spaces.

Even a powerful god pilot could not track them down without any solid clues of where their pocket spaces were located.

God pilots could only rely on the power of their organizations to gather these clues and find a trace of those powerful whales.

Of course, there were plenty of other enemies they could fight. One of the reasons why the frontlines remained so stable despite the increase in alien incursions was because the god pilots had already begun to clear out the alien menace whenever a problem region was reaching its limit!

Though it was fare to find any worthwhile opponents in these cleanup operations, it was better than nothing.

He needed to vent his desire for battle and fist as many aliens as possible!

If that was not possible, then he needed to have a good brawl with one of his fellow god pilots.

Venting his aggression and his lust for battle against another god pilot was always a good way to enjoy a hearty battle!

Even though a lot of his peers hated to fight against a persistent and unstoppable adversary ike himself, both sides usually harvested many gains from a serious spar.

"You are departing soon."

"WITHIN A MONTH, WHICH IS SEVERAL WEEKS TOO MUCH. MY PATIENCE IS ALREADY WEARING THIN."

"Everyone knows who you are. They will not neglect this manner. The last thing that they want to see is for you to lose control and go berserk in the most important star systems in human-occupied space."

The Fist of Defiance grimaced. The few times he had lost control were... not pleasant.

From the moment he embarked on this path, he always had to improve fast enough to contain the beast that was growing from within.

The pressure eased up once he advanced to a god pilot, but he did not utilize his newfound strength to crush the beast when he had the chance.

The Fist of Defiance had instead chosen to preserve it and nurture it so that it could grow strong enough to exert the same effect on him as before!

"Has your control over your inner beast deteriorated?" The Polymath pointedly asked as she observed the god pilot with her insightful eyes.

"THE BEAST IS ALWAYS TRYING TO PRY OUT OF ITS CAGE. EVERYTHING ELSE IS NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS."

"Everything has an ending, my friend. You cannot sustain this forever. I can foresee only two possible outcomes. You will either crush the beast and gain the peace that has been denied to you, or you will become vanquished by it, allowing it to break free and spread terror across the stars. How many admirers of yours will still be able to regard you as their hero if they know that you are containing a terrible beast?"

The Fist of Defiance shrugged in a deliberately nonchalant manner.

"THEIR OPINIONS ARE WORTHLESS TO ME. I AM ONLY CONCERNED AT HOW QUICKLY I CAN GET BACK TO DRIVING MY FISTS INTO POWERFUL ALIEN ADVERSARIES."

"Typical." The Polymath contemptuously spoke. "Of all of the leader figures that red humanity has chosen to idolize, it has to be the most crude and battle-hungry among us. I still find it difficult to accept that your Deep Strike Plan received the most votes at the time. The Diplomacy Plan was the logical fallback choice. If not for the endorsement of this cheeky brat, your simplistic and excessively risky plan would never have become so widely adopted."

The Fist of Defiance found amusement in her complaints. He crossed his arms and looked at her with a smug expression.

"I WON ANYWAY. THE PROCESS IS NOT AS IMPORTANT AS THE OUTCOME. I TRULY HAVE TO SHOW MY GRATITUDE TOWARDS THE CHEEKY BRAT FOR DOING WHAT WAS RIGHT FOR ALL OF US. WITH REGARDS TO MY PLAN, I KEPT IT SIMPLE ENOUGH THAT OTHERS CAN MAKE IT HAPPEN WITHOUT ANY FURTHER INVOLVEMENT FROM ME. I NEVER ASKED TO SIT ON A THRONE, UNLIKE YOU. I AM ONLY HAPPY WHEN I AM CLOSE TO AN ENEMY THAT I AM ALLOWED TO PUNCH. EVEN IF EVERY STATE AGREES TO GIVE ME A CROWN, I WILL ONLY CRUSH IT WITH MY HANDS BEFORE TOSSING THE BROKEN LUMP OF METAL AWAY."

It was so infuriating for the Polymath to talk with a brainless neanderthal like the Fist of Defiance!

She knew that he was deliberately talking about how he did not want to rule over red humanity just to rub it in her face that she had failed to secure this right herself!

While she was fully capable of suppressing her frustrations, the Polymath had learned her lesson. Letting her rationality monopolize her decision-making process was just asking for trouble in an imperfect society.

She needed to refamiliarize herself with her humanity if she wanted to navigate society in the future.

"Are you not curious at all why we have decided to pass on my old crown to the cheeky brat?"

"NO."

"That is a lie."

"LET ME ELABORATE. I AM CURIOUS, BUT I DO NOT THINK IT IS WORTH MY TIME TO INVESTIGATE FURTHER. WHAT CAN A CROWN DO IN THE FACE OF THE POWER OF MY FIST? IF THAT IS NOT ENOUGH TO SOLVE A PROBLEM, THEN I CAN ALWAYS UNLEASH THE BEAST ON MY OWN ACCORD. I MAY NOT BE ABLE TO RETURN ONCE I DO SO, BUT I CAN GUARANTEE YOU THAT ANYONE IN FRONT OF ME WILL RECEIVE THE SAME ENDING."

If the Polymath was not a powerful transcendent, she would have shuddered at the mention of this threat.

One of the reasons why very few open dissenters had emerged since the Deep Strike Plan went into effect was because no one wanted to provoke the unreasonable and violent god pilot who proposed it in the first place!

Though the Fist of Defiance had matured quite a bit since his wilder days, he could never get rid of his reputation as a troublemaker.

There was a period in the past where he looked for every possible excuse to have a good fight!

He provoked the Terrans, the Rubarthans, his fellow mechers and random aliens just to satisfy his craving for a beating!

Ironically, it was this exact notoriety that accidentally turned the Fist of Defiance in the greater force of unity within red humanity.

Every major group and faction had plenty of reasons to fight against each other, but they all happened to form a total consensus on a single matter.

Never give the Fist of Defiance a reason to come and bash his fist in your face!