Chapter 7387  Demanding Sacrifice

The Voice of Liberty entered into such a special state that Ves and other outside observers could no longer figure out what was happening with precision.

They could only form vague conclusions on how he was holding up and how much closer he came to completing the fourth and final phase.

The rogue saint's bold decision to harness the power of faith was certainly a bold one.

He not only put so much of himself and his causes at stake, but also pledged a life of service before he had managed to attain supreme power.

Becoming a god pilot demanded sacrifice.

This sacrifice could come in many forms.

Since the Voice of Liberty was clearly lacking in resources and preparation, he had little choice but to compensate for his shortcomings by 'borrowing from the future' in a manner of speaking.

He made grand promises. He gave up the freedom to do anything with the power he hoped to gain in order to become a super-powered version of a public servant.

Though many god pilots had made similar vows during their own breakthrough events, in their cases their dedications paid off as they gained the crucial momentum they needed to make it to the end of the road of no return!

However, the current situation did not match those success stories.

Instead, the ongoing breakthrough event possessed more similarities with failed attempts!

"According to our analysis, the Voice of Liberty entered the fourth phase in a terrible state." Gloriana reported to Ves. "His decision to make so many promises to serve the people who he believed to be underserved by the prevailing power has sharpened his focus and allowed him to make substantial progress, but that is far from enough for him to complete the Mech Body Merger Process. Whatever else he is doing is taking a horrible toll on him. The resonance meters detect increasing volatility and instability. His willpower is becoming shaky and his focus is drifting. If he is not able to maintain a consistent resonance strength at 1545 laveres, then…"

"I know, Gloriana." Ves grimly responded. "Order the closest mechs and ships to back off to safer distances. If this gets ugly, we can't allow collateral damage to occur."

"The various elements are just about to reposition, Ves. You should go as well. You are too close to the event at the moment."

The Dark Apostle silently backed away from the amalgamation between the Voice of Liberty and the Sound of Revolution.

Even the Ascended Giant felt nervous about staying so close to a potential energy bomb!

While backing off was the responsible decision to make, the mass withdrawal also signified the escort fleet's lack of confidence.

This dealt a not-so-insubstantial blow to the Voice of Liberty's confidence.

The pressure already broke him apart in piecemeal, but the dip in confidence was like the straw that broke the camel's back.

The resonance meters went crazy!

The ace pilot's willpower rapidly grew unstable! The shape of his evolving mech began to wobble and lose definition.

Even the guitar music became more and more distorted!

In an instant, the warped mech glowed brighter than ever before.

Then, a gigantic and extraordinarily punishing lighting bolt appeared out of nowhere and directly struck the faltering amalgamation!

This caused the latter to erupt in an explosion that briefly distorted space!

"Careful!"

"Raise your defenses!"

An invisible shockwave spread out that went through everyone and everything, causing them to feel a profound sense of sadness and regret!

The Voice of Liberty did not even have time to prepare his final words.

The combined pressure had pushed him past his limits!

The once-confident and hopeful ace pilot had made a bet himself and lost!

The consequences were dire. The failure to form a total union doomed the pilot as well as the mech to total annihilation!

The Voice of Liberty had already lost much of his attention and cognition right before his collapse.

If he was a little more stubborn or persistent, then he may have been able to maintain what little willpower he had left to linger for a short time.

However, the power of faith proved too strong for him to bear. It had torn apart Saint Morgenstern's willpower and everything else as if it exacted punishment for entering a forbidden domain!

Ves mentally shuddered at the brutal display.

He felt even more apprehensive about harnessing the power of faith than before.

It was not without reason why only True Gods possessed the qualifications to wield this high-level power source!

In any case, the failed breakthrough event not only caused a heroic if misguided ace pilot to disappear, but also his ace mech and all of the time, effort and resources put into its development.

As a mech designer, Ves couldn't help but feel a lot of regret for the passing of such a unique and iconic senior ace mech.

The Sound of Revolution had long made a name for itself in certain circles. It earned fame as one of the Resonance Smith's personal works.

Its existence served as a physical record that a Star Designer deigned to bestow a quirky guitar-wielding mech to a senior ace pilot.

The mech was an irreplaceable piece of mech history!

Now, it was gone forever!

It could only exist in the records of the past and the memories of those who witnessed it in one form or another.

Ves felt this loss a bit deeper than others due to his greater appreciation for the Sound of Revolution.

Even though the Resonance Smith never explicitly designed it as a living mech, it was still filled with life of a different sort.

It resonated beautifully with its pilot. The machine was able to perform a wide variety of feats that exceeded the capacities of most other senior ace mechs by relying on highly refined and advanced methods, some of which the Resonance Smith must have personally developed to take advantage of the Voice of Liberty's talents in particular!

Combined with years of intensive use and familiarization, the bond between ace pilot and ace mech had gained actual substance.

Now, everything was lost.

Before everyone's eyes, the glowing form that used to be a famous and iconic ace mech crumbled apart.

It had already lost much of the essence of what made it so powerful, and now its shell continued to fall into pieces of glittering but ultimately short-lived motes of light.

It could have been beautiful if not for the realization that they represented the parting form of a former legend.

The man who claimed to be the voice of the people had perished.

Just like many other hopeful saints, he had faltered at the fourth phase of the Mech Body Merger Process.

Faced with the requirement to shed his mortality and overcome his own willpower, he ultimately fell short despite his best efforts.

Once the final motes of light faded away, everything returned to tranquility.

The area of space that briefly hosted the ace mech had grown smooth and stable again.

Various high-powered sensor and scanner systems swept the surrounding region, but found no trace of the ace mech, nor any lingering traces of its existence.

its annihilation was truly absolute in this fashion.

This was the cruelty of a failed breakthrough. It was as if the university completely erased the god pilot candidate and his machine out of existence.

Though records and memories of the two had remained untouched, they provided very little value to red humanity.

Once the various sensor arrays detected no further anomalies after 5 minutes of intensive sweeps, Ves ordered the escort fleet to stand down.

"Be alert for any approaching stealth vessels or ambush forces, but lower the alert level. Oh, be sure to secure the ambush vessels that followed the Voice of Liberty on his mad quest to make difference. Their crews are clearly not the main actors, but they are still complicit in disrupting matters of great concern to our entire civilization."

"You should meet with the officer in charge of the ambush force." Alexa Streon advised. "When god pilot candidates have made up their minds, they often make preparations in the event of failure. They know that they will face complete annihilation if they fall short, so they make sure to leave their legacies behind."

"I see. Good reminder, Alexa. Please contact the commanding officer of the ambush vessels and determine whether the Voice of Liberty had indeed left behind a will or an inheritance of sorts."

"Will do, sir."

The affair was finally coming to a close.

As the Dark Apostle flew back to the Armitage, Ves entered into an introspective move.

The demise of a senior ace pilot of this stature inflicted a serious blow to red humanity.

Yet he did not die for nothing.

Saint Conrad Morgenstern had died while staking his life on his cause.

He died for the belief that mech pilots were sacred existences that should never be desecrated for the purpose of stuffing them into stolen resonance generators.

The fact that completely got erased from existence without being able to leave any remnants behind for Ves to salvage seemed like a final form of defiance.

If the Voice of Liberty was doomed to die, then he became utterly determined to not leave any remains behind that could be used to exploit him after his demise!

"What a pity."

If the process of annihilation was not so total, Ves could have taken advantage of the moment to harvest a spiritual remnant.

Just a tiny piece would have been enough to open up a lot of possibilities, from empowering a new artifact warship with an exceptionally strong stolen resonance generator to breathing life into a particularly combative design spirit!

Alas, none of that could happen when Ves had no way of collecting any relevant ingredients.

"Wait a second."

Was it truly the case that all direct traces of the ace pilot and ace mech had been erased?

When Ves curiously checked the retrieval teams to find out whether they successfully managed to gather pieces of debris that the Riot Mark III's final attack managed to dislodge, he found out that the pieces of debris hadn't disappeared!

Whether they still held any value remained to be seen.

Ves did not dare to set any expectations on the salvaged pieces of metal. They may have been part of a once-famous ace mech, but they did not encompass any of the core components of the powerful machine.

If these pieces possessed a stronger connection to the deceased pilot and machine, then they likely would have been erased as well.

Still, who knew if the universe or whatever had been a little careless.

As the current event came to an end, a large amount of discussion erupted among the public.

They had witnessed the daring attempt of an ace pilot trying to traverse the path to no return for the first time in a new age and in a different galaxy.

To witness the Voice of Liberty collapse and die in such a short interval of time did not exceed the expectations of many viewers.

They might not fully understand all of the variables that affected the process and outcome of a breakthrough event, but they all knew that most attempts ended in one spectacular failure or another!

To succeed in doing the impossible had always been the exception rather than the rule.

In this regard, the Voice of Liberty performed precisely according to expectations!

Even if many of those people had prayed for his success a bit earlier, that did not change their inherent pessimism on how unlikely it was for an ace pilot to rewrite reality and ascend to godhood beyond everyone's expectations.

In the end, many people would dismiss this case as another form of proof that becoming a god pilot had lured another hero into a tragic demise.

Too many heroes had already prematurely ended their lives to pursue this dream, and people had no doubt that many more would follow in the Voice of Liberty's footsteps!