Ves felt slightly uncomfortable in his new nanosuit as he finally stepped outside and began to move to the center.
He traveled to the center of the silent and frozen plains while standing on a large lifter platform.
The industrial device was powerful enough to haul chs from one destination to another.
That was more than enough lifting capacity to accommodate a large tal crate that stored his equipnt.
Though Ves could have opted to enter the dueling ground while wearing his new combat regalia right away, he opted to keep them under lock and key for a while longer in order to maintain the elent of surprise.
He also did not want his newly transford gear to cause any incidents and potentially spark a full-blown civil war within the Red Collective!
Ves also arrived at the agreed upon eting site by himself. He brought no one else, not even Lucky.
He already knew that the Ascended Giants did not respect anyone lesser than themselves. It would be an insult to bring over any puny weaklings. It would also put their lives at risk in case an outbreak of violence occurred.
Ves was confident in his ability to take a hit, especially after integrating the new lesser Marigal organ.
The sa could not be said for others.
Another notable absence was chs.
They were still visible in orbit and at certain other locations, but they made sure to remain as low-key as possible. They had been recoated so that they adopted bland and subdued colorations. They also kept their energy activity suppressed in order to appear less threatening and suspicious.
All of this was designed to prove that the Red Collective was ’sincere’ about honoring the leadership challenge.
Whether the RC would actually allow the Phase Lord Departnt to continue to operate while remaining in the hands of its current leaders remained to be seen.
So long as Ves still had a legitimate shot at taking it over, the RC was content to show its good side to a group of forr subordinates who had betrayed their mother organization.
As his large lifter platform approached the center, Ves could already see that the other side had co fully prepared.
Unlike Ves, these Ascended Giants had already grown as tall as two chs stacked on top of each other while putting on their full combat gear.
Each of them looked resplendent in their raints. The transphasic alloys had been polished to a shine. The distant stars might not be able to provide much illumination, but the powerful fixtures that illuminated a central plaza gave plenty of opportunities for the gigantic armor to gleam.
The Ascended Giants all showed stern expressions inside their open helts.
No one else attended to them. They ca with just four of them as they believed they did not need any further assistance to do their jobs.
Their gazes all showed varying degrees of disapproval as they observed the approach of Ves in his human guise.
This was a calculated display to remind them that Ves was not readily willing to embrace all of their rules and traditions.
He was still human.
Only after the lifter platform stopped at the opposite side of the tallic plaza was Ves prepared to let his other side co out to play.
He took a few deep breaths. "Rember what we agreed upon. Stick to the deal, and you will be allowed to lead the Phase Lord Departnt in most matters. Not all, but enough to turn you into the leader of the Ascended Giants in truth. If you do anything that will harm the cause of red humanity, then we will put you back in the box."
With that ssage delivered, Ves finally surrendered his true body to his alter ego.
His body began to inflate in size. He rapidly grew larger and taller. His nanosuit already began to stretch in order to protect his modesty and isolate him from the barren planetary environnt.
One notable shortcoming to his true body was that his lower left leg remained missing.
He was not able to regrow it at all despite his imnse physical growth and developnt because he had conceptually sacrificed this limb in order to birth Veronica.
Most of the ti, this sacrifice did not bother him. It even gave him enough room to fit a backup brain inside his CyLeg.
However, this physical shortcoming was a lot more consequential to a human phase lord.
The good news was that the raints designed for every duel already incorporated advanced cybernetic replacent legs. A considerable amount of mass had to be dedicated towards filling them up so that they turned into strengths instead of weaknesses.
However, if Ves found himself separated from his raints, then the lack of a sturdy leg might prove fatal in a duel!
He had to make sure that the fight took place in space where solid footing did not exist. Fighting on the surface of a planet that possessed enough gravity to press down the body of a phase lord was not ideal with a missing foot.
The Dark Apostle quickly took over the shared true body. The shift happened instantly and seamlessly.
However, Ves did not disappear into the depth of the true body.
The segnted collar that was wrapped around the neck of Ves’ original body continued to do their work. Runes and symbols had been carved into the tal components and had beco empowered by jewels and other hyper materials.
Each of them worked as advertised. Ves found himself in possession of Blinky’s spiritual form once more.
"Mrow, this is great."
"Not in my opinion." The Dark Apostle glumly whispered. "I had hoped to undertake this leadership challenge without your irritating nagging and intervention."
"Pfff, keep dreaming." Blinky rolled his eyes. "You need to keep you in line and to help you defeat these Ascended Giants. Don’t forget who is responsible for infusing us both with new fighting thods. I am responsible for giving you a winning ticket. I just want to make sure that my investnt is not in vain."
The Dark Apostle certainly had no love for Ves despite the latest gifts.
The only gift he desired was to take total control over their shared true body, but the Dark Apostle knew that Ves would never make this choice willingly.
This was why the two would always remain in a state of subdued hostility. They knew that when either side saw an opportunity to kick the other one out, they would take it in a heartbeat.
Fortunately, that day was still far away. It was more important for the both of them to cooperate in order to realize their shared goal. They could still understand this simple truth, so they did not do more than bicker for a mont before they concentrated on the matter at hand.
The polemarchos and the three strategoi all looked at Ves with slightly greater respect and acknowledgent now that the latter had matched their size.
"We welco you to these sacred plains, Dark Apostle." The Oscillating First greeted the arrival with an imperious voice. "Today, we shall decide who will get to earn the qualifications to lead the Ascended Giants as its strongest and most authoritative voice. Our people only listens to the strong, not the weak. By agreeing to undergo a leadership challenge that comprises four separate duels, you submit yourself to our ways and accept that true leaders can only be tested under arduous conditions. Do you agree with the terms of this challenge?"
The Dark Apostle made a simple nod. "I do. I acknowledge how much I am putting myself behind by fighting several duels with only 3 hours of rest ti in between, but... this challenge wouldn’t be as exciting if you gave more ti to recover from my exertion in between."
The human phase lord smirked in a manner that was eerily characteristic to the normal Ves.
There had been plenty of debates about how separate Ves and the Dark Apostle truly were in reality.
Nobody could say for certain whether the latter was a completely foreign personality inserted by an external party, or whether he was truly a dark reflection of the forr.
However, many people who were familiar with Ves saw plenty of his more arrogant and outrageous traits in the Dark Apostle.
It was as if the phase lord persona was the unfiltered and irreverent version of Ves.
The two sides continued to exchange words for a few more minutes.
The Dark Apostle was impatient to begin, but at least a small part of him understood the importance of patience and ritual.
The Phase Lord Departnt was not in a hurry. Its leaders may be standing still, but in reality they were monitoring their surroundings carefully in case the collies planned to launch an ambush.
This was one of the pri monts to do so. The collies controlled a large amount of the orbital space infrastructure. They could easily choose to launch a decapitation strike on the four visible leaders.
That was still way too risky to execute in reality. Even if the collies killed the masterminds of the Phase Lord Departnt, the many sub-leaders spread throughout space would instantly defect to any group that could give them shelter!
It was due to this possibility that the Ascended Giants remained calm as they completed their necessary scans.
It was not until the inspections cleared up that the phase lord leaders appeared ready to kick off the fighting phase.
"As part of the rules, you have been given the power to choose the order of your duels. Who do you intend to challenge first?"
The Dark Apostle raised his finger right at one of the more heavily armored phase lords!
"I challenge the Unshakeable King to take part in the first duel!"
That surprised several of them. It was a common belief among the Ascended Giants that the man was the second-strongest of all human phase lords that were currently in existence.
For the Dark Apostle to challenge him first ant that this was a deliberate choice that was filled with aning.
The Ascended Giants grew even more serious now that they realized that their leader candidate was being utterly serious about the entire sequence.
They needed to stay sharp and pay close attention if they sought to avoid getting bamboozled!
The Ascended Giant slowly stepped forward while carrying a pair of impact hamrs.
The hamrs did not look too big or exaggerated, but that made them particularly effective at inflicting repeated impact damage. These were excellent tools for breaking open transphasic energy shields.
Strangely enough, the Unshakeable King had opted to skip the kinetic cannon. Perhaps he thought it was too dishonorable to bring in a ranged weapon to a ritualistic duel.
What a fool.
Blinky assud an air of disdain when he concluded that there was nothing in the Unshakeable King’s raint or gear that would allow him to inflict damage at range. This was a particularly significant shortcoming for soone who preferred to rely on armor as opposed to speed.
The Unshakeable King looked at the Dark Apostle’s unarmored form and frowned.
"Where is your wargear?"
"Over there, inside those armored containers. Do not worry. I will don them soon enough. Before we begin, I would like to ask you one question. May I?"
"Why should I oblige?"
"Because your answer will determine whether I will kill you or spare you if the ti has co."
Blinky smacked his paw against his face.
The Dark Apostle wasn’t supposed to reveal their plan to claim the Unshakeable King’s life!
The only consolation was that the leader of the Ur-Titan Phalanx did not look surprised. He already expected that his adversary might be looking to end him in a more permanent fashion.
"Interesting. Ask your question, then."
The Dark Apostle paused for a mont before he did so. "Tell , how loose are your underpants?"
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