Chapter 7132: Forceful Revelation
Chapter 7132: Forceful Revelation
There was nothing Ves could do about the Cybernetic Empire.
Sure, Ves had talked to the Polymath just recently, but that did not mean he had her ear.
She Cybernetic Empress had her own agenda, and she was extremely stubborn about pursuing it. Ves knew without a shadow of a doubt that she would never compromise her vision just to accommodate the Red Collective.
From the response given by Secret Keeper Zariel-775, it seemed the leaders of the RC knew this as well.
They only asked Ves in case he possessed a secret weapon that could persuade the Polymath to change her mind.
The collies were expecting too much from Ves. He was not a miracle worker. He was just a mech designer.
Since there were no gains to be made on this issue, Zariel-775 shifted to another topic.
"Your return to the Astral Octagon has taken place at a convenient time. As the first human phase lord, we believe you can be of assistance with addressing a growing problem within our ranks."
"You are talking about the Phase Lord Department." Ves made a guess.
"Correct. So far, your chief of staff has only given you a shallow explanation of what we are concerned about. This is deliberate as the matter is too sensitive to be discussed over remote channels. The main reason why this delicate situation has not led to any drastic incidents is because we have made strides to keep it under wraps. We cannot afford to spread unnecessary panic and doubt when we are still a young organization."
Ves began to frown. "How badly has the Phase Lord Department diverged from the rest of the Red Collective?"
"The members of this department have effectively gone rogue." The secret keeper said. "As far as we can tell, it started with the human phase lords. Every member of the Ur-Titan Phalanx and the Flesh Chopper Phalanx have changed after they have increased their phasewater concentration past a certain threshold. The soldiers suffered a similar phenomena that has afflicted you, but the consequences are much more dire for them. Not a single one has successfully managed to repel or wrestle back control over the hidden personality that has sprouted from their abnormally strong physiques. You are the only success case, which means your input is all the more valuable."
Ves frowned deeper. "I am afraid that you are expecting too much from me. I may be a human phase lord, but my case is probably a lot different from the others. The only reason why I managed to regain control over myself is because my fellow Larkinsons happened to be strong enough to force my alternate personality to give up control. I am not sure whether that will work with the Phase Lord Department since it is so much bigger."
"That is so." The secret keeper nodded under his hood. "All of our departments are spread over at least a dozen different physical locations in order to prevent a decapitation strike from causing us to lose all of our institutional knowledge and other gains. However, this has also made it difficult to keep all of the members of the Phase Lord Department under control. By the time we realised the nature of the problem, it was already too late."
This was a clever approach, but it was never meant to be used against humans.
Now, red humanity might have to contend against phase lords that were much more alike to them than expected, everyone understandably grew squeamish about confronting these possible renegades.
"How exactly did this work?" He said.
"Before we managed to discover their... sudden changes in mentality, the human phase lords and their subordinates have done well at blending in. If you do not know the truth, it is nearly impossible to discern that they are not themselves anymore. It is only when we learned what happened to you that we began to look at our existing human phase lords differently for drastic changes in personality. That was when we picked up the suspicious behavior."
"The Phase Lord Department has to know you have figured out their secret, right?"
"Yes, but that has not yet caused us to undergo a schism. We have undergone an unspoken accord more or less. So long as we pretend that all is well and that nothing is wrong, this landmine will not explode in front of our faces. Instead, we continue to put our weight on it, knowing that any shift could lead to a catastrophe that will devastate both of us. Months have passed since then as we sought a cure to the affliction that has overtaken all of our human phase lords, but we failed."
Ves narrowed his eyes when he heard that. "You allowed the problem to fester because you were hoping to find a perfect solution."
The secret keeper made a shallow nod. "The members of the Phase Lord Department that have become compromised over the last year used to be our brothers and sisters. Whether their condition is similar to yours or not, we owed it to them to do our best to recover their original condition."
"I take it that these attempts have failed."
"Yes. We have not exhausted all of our options, but our optimistic outlook has faded. We no longer believe that we can recover their original personalities as the nature of their transformations is different from your own. After many probes and examinations... we have learned that where you have resisted the temptation to sacrifice your humanity for power, our compromised members have embraced their god complex, with all of the consequences that came with this decision."
"How many?"
"As far as we know, all of the human phase lords have become compromised to the same degree." Zariel-775 brutally revealed. "They have all struck the devil’s bargain. This has caused them to undergo extreme personality changes, but not one that has caused them to adopt completely different identities. This is why they were initially able to escape notice. They have retained enough of their original selves to camouflage their changes of heart."
Ves grimaced when he heard that. He had already guessed that not every member of the Phase Lord Department possessed his resolve, but it was still disappointing to hear that so many collies had fallen prey to this trap.
"I need to understand their new conditions. From what you have described, their personality changes are less extreme than in my case, but they are still unquestionably changed, right?"
The member of the Secret Department paused for a moment as if he needed a moment to compose his next words.
This was an extremely delicate situation. Any inaccuracies on his part could lead to serious consequences down the line.
"Our theory may be flawed, but we suspect that the compromised human phase lords are still themselves. The reason why their behavior has changed so much is because they have been swept by a revelation that they have inexplicably accepted. Their changes are similar to secularists that have been converted into a faith. They are so convinced that their new views are correct that they have completely denounced their old views. What makes this so concerning is that each of them have willingly embraced the new truth as they see it. None of them have held true to their old values."
Both Ves and Eliza Mo Ragadan looked discomfited by this description. It was pretty awful to hear how every human phase lord had fallen prey to this particular weakness.
"So let me get this straight. Since every human phase lord has failed to resist this temptation, they did not get taken over by a radical second personality. They instead changed their mindsets on their own initiative, thereby developing a god complex but not to the point of turning into a stupid dissident or anything, right?"
"You can say so, chief councilor. What is good about this is that the compromised human phase lords are not radical to the point of rebelling against the Red Collective and human civilization as a whole. We believe that despite developing a god complex as you describe it, they still maintain enough sentiment towards humans to stay aligned with our race."
"So you aren’t afraid that they will defect to the Red Cabal due to developing a sense of brotherhood with alien phase leaders?" Ves asked with clear concern in his voice.
"Our analysis may be wrong, because we do not have evidence that this is the case. The human phase lords may have developed an inflated sense of self, but they still consider the alien phase whales and phase lords to be enemies on the same level. Our fallen members see themselves as gods of the human pantheon. The Red Cabal is a rival pantheon. Both are currently contesting for control over the Red Ocean. The compromised human phase lords will still side with the rest of us because we have more in common with them than their alien counterparts."
"I see." Ves said. "This... sounds more optimistic than I expected. I assumed the human phase lords already thought about defecting."
"We are monitoring their situation from a distance." The secret keeper said. "One of the reasons why we have avoided confrontation so far is due to the risk that pushing too hard may inadvertently cause us to drive them into the arms of the Red Cabal. As compromised as they may be and as tenuous as their humanity has become, we still have hope that they can still identify themselves as humans."
That was the big question.
Sev had developed a very strong superiority complex. He believed that phase lords existed on a completely different level than mortals. The gulf between the two was so great that they no longer strictly belonged to the same race anymore!
Ves felt disgusted by this attitude. The way his alternative personality regarded other humans was the same as if he was looking at ants.
Sev would probably feel nothing if he happened to squash a crowd of humans beneath his feet!
If the compromised human phase lords possessed the same mindset, then there was no way to negotiate with them. Their sense of separation from ordinary humans had grown too strong to rein in their arrogance.
However, so long as their opinions were not as extreme, there may be hope in obtaining their support.
Ves did not hope for anything more than that. It was probably impossible to shake them from their delusions.
"I understand now." He quietly said. "Given my unique identity and position, you want me to approach these human phase lords and persuade them to cooperate sincerely with the Red Collective, right? These guys don’t respect ’mortals’ such as you. They only respect their fellow ’gods’ like myself. If they see a human phase lord like myself working with other humans without any issue, they may be persuaded to follow my example."
The secret keeper appeared pleased that he did not have to explain this much. "Yes. We have other plans to address this problem that do not require your personal intervention, but we estimate that their success rate is less than optimistic. You have a history of solving unusual problems. We call upon you to do so again."
Ves crossed his arms. "You are piling a lot of expectations on my shoulders. Aren’t you afraid that I will botch my attempt? I am not a professional diplomat or whatever."
"We can coach you on how you should speak to them and how to respond to specific situations." Zariel-775 noted. "Other than that, we trust you to navigate your conversation with your fellow human phase lords as you see fit. We will be pleased as long as you can persuade them to open up and resume their cooperation with the rest of the Red Collective."
"You are asking for much. These guys... if my suspicions about them are correct, they will demand far more than cooperation. They will insist that we put them in charge."