5230 The Real Culprits

On this particular day, humanity changed forever.

People across the Milky Way Galaxy and the Red Ocean Dwarf Galaxy all paused if they weren't already busy with important matters and tried to figure out why they experienced a completely new sensation.

Mech pilots in the midst of battle toned down their offensive actions and pulled back regardless of whether they were on the winning or losing side.

Mech designers ensconced in their design labs had unknowingly paused their latest design work and began to focus their attention on the oddities they felt on a level they never became aware of just a moment earlier.

Within a certain meditation compartment in the depths of a hazardous region, a resurrected True God opened her transcendent eyes and gazed in a realm that was not visible to mortal eyes.

Within an ancient temple floating in the middle of an even more impenetrate anomalous region, the Son of Earth adopted a knowing look as he gazed in the same metaphorical direction.

Within a secret stronghold on a planet that was so tectonically and volcanically active that no one could ever imagine that it could house any stable form of life, a certain Seeker momentarily looked shocked at what he managed to behold, but subsequently grinned with delight as he recognized the opportunities that would open up if this event came to pass!

The reactions emerging from normal population centers remained relatively tame for the most part. The proportion between ordinary people and the members of the mech community was rather low.

The story was considerably different inside military bases, carrier vessels and other places where lots of mech pilots and mech designers came together!

"Are we under attack?!"

"Why do I feel as if something inside of me is tearing apart?!"

"Damn! What have those idiots in the lost galaxy done this time?! Did they provoke a powerful new enemy that is powerful enough to wipe out every human with a single thought?!"

"HAHAHAHA! 1 was right! The phase whales have done it again! They somehow found a way to wipe out all of our mech pilots and mech designers with a dimensional reduction attack!"

"Remain calm and man your battle stations! Whoever decided to attack us with an exotic weapon will regret their actions!"

The expeditionary fleet of the Golden Skull Alliance also experienced a lot of distress throughout every ship.

Entire carrier vessels went into red alert as too many of their troops experienced distress that spooked them beyond all belief!

None of the affected people from the Larkinson Clan and so on had any clue what was going on, and that scared them even more.

Mechs launched out of the carrier vessels by the hundreds. Expert mechs such as the Dark Zephyr and the Star Dancer Mark II surged away from the fleet and tried to scout the surroundings in an attempt to sniff out a hidden archeship or other acute source of danger.

Even the ace pilots did not take this matter lightly. Their greater power and connection to the source of the danger gave them a few more hints of what might be going on, but they lacked the full imagination and awareness that one of the most important influences of their lives was undergoing a fundamental change.

"What's wrong, mama?!"

"Are you hurt?"

"Mew mew mew!"

Aurelia, Andraste and Marvaine all gathered around their mother as she started to feel a deep palpitating inside herself.

"I am alright, my babies... Your mother has grown a little tired. I should sit down." Gloriana said as she tried to lighten up the mood.

She tried to figure out what was going on by performing a diagnostic of her own body. When the sensors and scanners did not detect anything amiss, she tried to look up information from other sources.

The true scale of this unfolding event began to dawn on her as well as many other people. The entire galactic had become flooded with demands for clarification and messages of doom!

"What is happening?!" She gasped in a looming sense of horror.

No one appeared to have any answers. Although the official channels of the Red Association quickly issued a statement that vaguely indicated that a great undertaking was taking place, the message was frustratingly vague on details.

A strange thought entered Gloriana's mind. Did this have anything to do with Ves?

From the moment she began to entertain this notion, she felt a certain hunch that indicated that this idea might not actually be as ridiculous as it sounded.

"Goldie! Come out for a moment!"

"Nyaaaaa?"

The Golden Cat emerged from the Larkinson Mandate carried by Nitaa. The bodyguard had defaulted to escorting the wife of her main object of protection now that the latter had left on a business trip.

The warm and protective aura of the ancestral spirit of the Larkinson Clan quickly soothed the nerves of everyone in the vicinity.

In fact, the Larkinson Network had already done a decent job at tempering the distress experienced by the clansmen.

"You are still connected to Ves at the moment, is that correct?"

"Nyaaa-"

"Then can you explain what he has done that could possibly cause everyone directly related to mechs to feel as if we are on the precipice of an unobservable apocalypse?!"

The floating spiritual cat innocently shrugged. "Nya nya nya."

"I need actual answers! Can you at least tell me whether Ves is involved?!"

"Nya nyaaa!"

"I knew it! He always manages to stumble into a situation that somehow causes it to blow up in everyone's faces. Why is he unable to restrain himself and act normal for once?! I should have found a way to accompany him. I could have stopped him from acting like a fool! Is he at least trying to solve this mess he created?!"

"Nyaa.. nyaaa?"

While Gloriana tried to squeeze an explanation out of a less-than-cooperative Goldie, those who were at 'ground zero' of the event all had a much better idea of what was taking place!

Tens of thousands of people who had gathered in the assembly hall all remained rooted in their seats while dressed in their best ceremonial outfits.

Several strong sources of pressure constantly bore down on them. While they were still physically able to move if they wanted to, each of them had no intention of taking any careless actions.

The reasons were varied. A lot of the younger folk knew they were completely outclassed in this situation. There was nothing they could not do that the older generations could do better.

A lot of professionals who did not share any special connections to the Kingdom of Mechs initially did not understand what was taking place.

It wasn't until their more knowledgeable neighbors decided that the Polymath had already pulled the cat out of the bag that most people gained a shallow understanding of the stakes.

The most powerful metaphysical construct of the human race was in the process of getting torn apart!

The mythical Kingdom of Mechs that had been founded over four centuries ago was undergoing its first major transformation.

Throughout its existence, the kingdom had never remained static. Constant growth by tapping into the strength of a growing body of humans along with constant adjustments made by the Star Designers who administered it had led to gradual evolution over time.

The Kingdom of Mechs in its present version was much stronger and more elaborate than its initial version!

However, what was important was that its changes never took place all at once. They occurred over lengthy spans of time and never too much at once. This helped to preserve its secrecy as no one really noticed what was going on in the background.

All of that had changed now that the Polymath triggered a contingency plan that no one in the assembly hall appeared to have seen coming!

Each time a small portion of the mystical 'city wall' cracked, another unexplainable spike of pain surged in the spirits of the members of the mech community.

This process happened in a long and drawn-out fashion, yet produced so much drastic changes to the Kingdom of Mechs that even the most distant mech professionals in the Red Ocean and the Milky Way became affected by the ripple effects!

Ves momentarily blanked out as he tried to make sense of it all. He could not understand how the normally calm and calculative Polymath could turn her face so abruptly and pulled out a stunt that not even an impulsive bastard like Patriarch Reginald Cross dared to undertake.

Why did she resort to her option of last resort right away? Why didn't she bother to negotiate with Ves or at least figure out a compromise deal that could allow this all-important voting session to conclude in a normal manner?

Flipping the board in such a violent and unilateral fashion did not match the Star Designer's pattern of behavior.

Ves needed answers, so he turned to the Master Mech Designer sitting next to him. Despite his lack of seniority, the mecher was still a lot better connected and informed than an associate who had jumped from a tier 6 galactic citizen to a tier 3 galactic citizen only a day earlier!

"Why isn't anyone moving to stop the Polymath? Why is the Mace of Retaliation floating around like a paralyzed idiot? Shouldn't he and all of the other ace pilots in the hall call in thier ace mechs right away and interrupt whatever is taking place? In fact, even if they don't want to take action, there should be an abundance of security on this ship! Where are the automated turrets? Why aren't the armored security troopers taking a step forward?!"

He was hardly the only conference goer who asked this particular question. The Khamatar Reign was a state-of-the-art research battlecarrier that should be stocked with all kinds of defenses and security measures.

Even if the Polymath had come in with a lot of fancy protective or anything, the combined firepower of every ace mech and internal security measure should have been enough to threaten or at least drive away a completely stationary Star Designer!

"It is not that simple, Professor Larkinson." The much older mech designer replied. "The Polymath may be the trigger, but she is not the executor. Do you see those Stars floating above the representation of the kingdom? Those are the extensions of other Star Designers. I happen to know enough about them to determine many of their identities."

"So?"

"The Polymath has managed to build a broad coalition in the Milky Way Galaxy. She managed to do so behind the backs of everyone in the Red Ocean as far as I can tell. What matters is that what is taking place represents the will of around 70 Star Designers. The majority of them are aligned with the Mech Trade Association, but I can detect enough who are loyal to the Greater Terran United Confederation and the New Rubarth Empire."

Ves was not stupid. The wheels already started to turn in his mind. "You mean..."

"The Star Designers of the Milky Way Galaxy have come to a consensus on the matter of splitting up the Kingdom of Mechs." The older mecher stated in a tone of finality. "They have gained knowledge of the possible threats that red humanity must defend against, and they have concluded that it is best to cut off this common channel as a preemptive defensive measure. It appears that they have decided that the risks of attracting supremely powerful alien adversaries outweigh any possible benefits of remaining in touch with the developments in the Red Ocean. Since the majority of the Star Designers of the human race are still located in the Milky Way, they have the power to make this happen without any input from the 14 Star Designers left in the Red Ocean. Do you understand what this means, young man?"

Ves as well as a growing number of people who were quietly learning what was taking place all grew stunned yet again.

He understood the underlying meaning and significance of this action.

"The humans of the Milky Way are forsaking us." Ves spoke with a mix of anger and resignation. "They are the true cowards here. I can't believe... they actually went through with this radical action..."

He understood that there was no point in doing anything to the Polymath. Even if the people around him managed to completely restrain the rogue Star Designer, none of them had a way of stopping the 70 Star Designers from pushing through their plan of splitting up the Kingdom of Mechs!

The real culprits were literally an entire galaxy away!