The Mech Touch (Web Novel)

5677 Human Sympathy

A gigantic explosion engulfed the space that previously occupied a highly sophisticated warfleet dispatched by a minor alien race that the Destroyer of Worlds did not even bother to learn about.

The Red Ocean may be fairly small, but it still played host to many intelligent alien races.

The main reason why the phase whales and the other major alien races declined to take them over was because their home planets were not worth spending resources to bring into their empire.

Similar to how human civilization divided its space into first-class, second-class and third-class territories, the natives of the Red Ocean divided themselves up in a surprisingly similar manner.

This proved that discrimination based on strength and resources were universal concepts that applied to every race or population group.

As the powerful and potent Ragnarok confirmed that the large invasion fleet had been wiped out to the last alien, the people of the colony fortress fanatically cheered at the display of power from one of their greatest heroes!

"Destroyer of Worlds!"

"Thank you for saving us, Your Divinity!"

"I am your biggest fan!"

To be honest, the colony should have been able to stall and grind down the invading aliens in a grueling siege. The Rubarthan Pact had made sure to divert enough resources to build additional fortifications.

The newly developed azure titan shields could protect cities from external bombardment for an extensive amount of time, though even these mighty barriers would eventually falter if subjected to sustained attacks from multiple warships.

Regardless, those azure titan shields would buy plenty of time for the newly produced and installed Ultimatums to strike at any alien vessel or large projectile with their potent Onyx Cannons!

Thinking about the new mech designed by the brat and mass produced by a Rubarthan partner company caused her to feel rather mixed about this state of affairs.

She never expected to become involved in the lives of so many people all of a sudden through Emma's apparent new job as a design spirit.

Irene recognized that Ves had taken clear advantage of her by using her name and power to market his new Ultimatum model.

Yet the Ultimatum was clearly a good mech. It did an excellent job at fulfilling the firepower gap for second-raters. As much as she thought that her association with a second-class mech model cheapened her reputation, she found that she did not care about this consequence.

God pilots had distanced themselves from the common folk to such an extent that they could no longer interact normally with each other.

Irene had become a god in a fashion. She couldn't stop herself from overwhelming mortals and turning them into single-minded fools just by approaching them and speaking to them in person.

This was why god pilots had to sever their ties to a lot of old friends and live in much greater isolation than before. They could only act with greater familiarity with those who were capable of resisting the pressure of their God Kingdoms.

Every god pilot voluntarily accepted this arrangement because they loved humanity.

A human civilization that descended into pure god pilot worship would no longer be as dynamic and freethinking as before. The extensive stagnation of the Red Ocean due to the ubiquitous belief in the descendants of the Elder Gods vindicated this approach.

While it was clear that this policy benefited humanity a lot in the Age of Mechs, that might not be true anymore in this case.

Red humanity faced a completely new reality when it had entered the Age of Dawn. Exposure to E energy radiation and the resurgence of 'cultivation' caused a lot of members of the upper echelon to rethink all of the rules that no longer served their society well anymore.

For one reason or another, god pilots such as the Destroyer of Worlds suddenly gained a lot more say in how human society should be run.

This shift had already begun from the moment that red humanity became extremely vulnerable now that its lifeline had been cut off. Just 8 god pilots stood in the way of total annihilation!

Given that the protection of powerhouses such as Irene had become an absolute necessity for humans to guarantee their survival in this dangerous new age, it shouldn't have been much of a surprise that her voice had gained a lot more weight than before.

It was a circumstance that she was not accustomed to. Though she had fought hard and struggled more than almost anyone else to attain ultimate power, she never really had the ambition to transform human society and shape it according to her image.

She had been more than satisfied to serve as the guardian and protector of the human race. Politics should be left to the politicians as far as she was concerned.

However, the role of politicians had become a lot more diminished now that red humanity was on a total war footing. The old leaders had no way of crushing alien incursions and deterring the powerful phase leaders from indiscriminately tearing through human-occupied space.

Only god pilots possessed this strength.

Irene's God Kingdom retracted just as her god mech disappeared from the field. The local onlookers became dismayed by her departure, but that did not stop their intense faith towards the hero that had spared them from waging a protracted and costly battle against a large invasion force.

Disappearing from sight was one of Irene's favorite tricks. Although she did not excel at stealth, it was easy enough for her to destroy the emissions released by the Ragnarok and even the very concept of her presence on a temporary basis!

Of course, the more powerful and expansive the concept, the more effort it took for her to erase it, not that she was bothered by her current consumption. Her power was so vast that hiding herself from ordinary perception was a breeze.

As she waited in order to determine where she needed to intervene next, a part of her expansive mind was constantly paying attention to the distant mech pilots that had come to pilot all of the new Ultimatums.

So many different mech forces had adopted the Ultimatum that Emma, and by extension Irene, suddenly came into much more direct contact with ordinary people than before.

Though the mech pilots of the Ultimatum were often better trained and more elite than average mech pilots, they all fell within the same scope to a god pilot like Irene.

This was a experience.

She no longer observed the lives of ordinary mortals from a distance, but instead gained a glimpse into their very minds and souls.

So long as Emma continued to fulfill her duties as a design spirit, she was able to violate the privacy of so many people that it had taken her aback at first.

How many design spirits managed to learn so much about people?

What had they done with all of the information they learned?

Had their creator imposed any control or restrictions to prevent them from disseminating all of the secrets they learned?

At first, Irene felt disturbed by how easy it was for Emma to get into contact with much the intimate thoughts and feelings of a rapidly expanding group of mech pilots!

Her objections lessened when she began to familiarize herself with the benefits of this recent development.

For the first time in many years, Irene experienced the joys and frustrations of what it meant to be a weak and powerless human.

By tracking different mech pilots and occasionally putting herself in their shoes, she slowly began to reconnect with the humanity she thought that she had lost forever when she finally traversed the road of no return.

It... put a lot of things into perspective. A god pilot never wavered in her purpose, so the Destroyer of Worlds did not suddenly question her entire life or whatever.

What concerned her instead was her future role and direction.

She had already taken upon herself to resort to extreme measures to attain the theoretical rank of god king pilot.

She was determined to do her duty to the very end, but that did not mean she had to like it. The distasteful methods proposed by the mother of her new 'friend' would see her reputation plunge to an unprecedented low.

Was this the only way for her to lead red humanity to a new future?

Emma's new responsibilities gave Irene the idea that there may be more ways for her to be of service to humanity.

However, if Irene took this step, then she would not only break the unspoken rules and customs that had always prevented god pilots from exercising too much influence over people's lives, but also add a side to herself that she wasn't sure she liked.

She derived a lot of satisfaction from seeing mech pilots make good use of the Ultimatum.

Seeing how they practiced their skills and utilized their machines in combat reminded her of her previous life.

She hadn't fought against alien warships back then, but she experienced many of the same struggles that gradually forged her into the god pilot that she was today.

However, not every mech pilot experienced a good day.

The frontlines were dangerous. Second-class mech forces still had to struggle a lot in order to defeat a typical alien raiding fleet.

Seeing the Ultimatums fail to make enough of a difference was not pleasant.

Many mech pilots put a lot of hope into their new machines, but as powerful as they may be, they were ultimately just second-class heavy artillery mechs.

Irene piloted one herself for many years, so she knew exactly what kind of limitations they possessed.

The more mech pilots came into contact with the Ultimatums, the more Emma became exposed to incidents where those earnest fighters lost their lives.

Some got blown up in an instant when their bunkers directly got struck by the main cannons of an alien warship. Others experienced a tortuous road towards inevitable defeat as the mechs and carriers around them continually fell in battle.

If the Ragnarok was present in the star system, she could immediately put an end to all of the human suffering.

However, it was exactly because god pilots could only exercise their immense might within a limited scope that Irene had never really felt bothered about her inability to put out every fire across human-occupied space.

That... was no longer the case anymore.

Through Emma, she had gained the option to intervene in many different places at once.

While she was not able to exercise her full power across those distances, this was a and unprecedented situation. Any decision she made would have untold consequences to her place in society. People's attitude would change in radical ways once it became known she decided to play a more active role in their lives.

Should she make use of the possibilities granted by the brat, or should she maintain her propriety and allow the process of survival of the fittest to filter out the weak and unworthy?

Thinking about how so many leading figures spoke with open contempt towards the common folk rankled her a lot.

She used to be one of them a long time ago! If she did not receive the gift of a companion spirit during her life-saving encounter with a time-traveling mech designer, she too would have remained a forgettable grunt who ultimately had to fend for herself with no prospect of rescue!

A sense of unwillingness welled throughout her formidable will.

Instead of settling in her old role as a silent protector of human civilization, perhaps she should keep up with the times and take a more proactive role in people's lives.

She was hardly the only god pilot who toyed with this idea.

The Huntsman had already taken a major step by promoting the Hunting Association.

The Fist of Defiance had successfully pushed through an initiative that would gradually shift power towards a new order.

The Evolution Witch was cooking up her own plan that was bound to shock a lot of people.

Perhaps Irene, or rather Emma, could become a patron to the struggling mech pilots who prayed for deliverance from any god who was willing to give them a helping hand.

The only question was how she should take on a more active role.