Rosa Orfan also did not manage to regain enough lucidity to put up a sudden resistance.
Instead, the final wave of conquest and subversion crashed against a barrier that thrummed with the power of space.
A third party had intervened.
This should not be possible.
As pathetic and weak as Rosa Orfan had become, a third party shouldn’t have been able to barge in and intervene in this power struggle.
What was happening?
The third party did not keep both sides waiting for long. The new presence emerged from the most core parts of Rosa Orfan’s remaining soul.
A small manifestation of Qilanxo had arrived.
The reptilian creature turned design spirit had detected Venerable Orfan’s dire state, and forcefully intervened to save the woman that she had bonded with many years ago on the surface of a forgotten planet from the old galaxy!
The small manifestation of Qilanxo did not just project a barrier to halt the invader’s progress.
The design spirit also turned to whatever was left of the real Rosa Orfan and encouraged her to fight back and survive!
The false Rosa Orfan sneered at the last-second intervention of a design spirit. “Begone, creature. You are not welcome here. This wretch is not worth your attention. She is a weak and pathetic failure of an expert pilot. I will do better than her. I won’t even need your protection anymore. As soon as I find the anchor of your connection to her, I shall relish the act of severing it. The mere fact that it still exists is another mark of failure. Expert pilots must rely on themselves to surpass their limitations. They can lean on design spirits such as you in order to save them from their own failings. Begone!”
Qilanxo’s alien eyes glared at the false Rosa Orfan with animosity.
“What are you looking at, you beast?” The apparent invader taunted the design spirit. “Do not think you can bluff me into surrendering. Your connection with Rosa is limited. You can only channel so much of your strength. Even now, your barrier is weakening by the second. I will have my prize sooner or later. Even if you combine your feeble power with this failure of an expert pilot, it is far too late for you to launch a counterattack. My conquest is inevitable.”
The design spirit could not refute the truth of this hostile entity’s words. She was indeed unable to bring more than a tiny fraction of her full might to bear. Just establishing this connection under the current circumstances was already arduous enough.
Yet Qilanxo never thought to rely on brute force. She disregarded the false woman and addressed the real Rosa Orfan.
The design spirit never communicated by verbalizing human words. She preferred to communicate in a more direct fashion by passing on entire ideas and impressions.
Though it was difficult for the real Rosa to interpret Qilanxo’s message, the method of information transmission made it a lot easier for her to understand the design spirit’s revelations.
According to Qilanxo, Rosa Orfan was not weak. She was strong.
“I… am not… weak.”
So what if she was not as skilled as Saint Dise? Every pilot had their own strengths. Mediocre skill was not the end of the universe for them. Ace pilots had other ways to excel in combat. Strong enthusiasm and guts could often compensate for careful planning and execution!
“I am not… worthless.”
Venerable Rosa Orfan mattered to the Larkinsons. She had fought to defend the clan when it was still weak and vulnerable. Her contributions to the early battles played a decisive role in letting it grow to a much greater height.
Even now, her importance was still significant, as she could still protect a lot of clansmen as an expert pilot and carried the possibility of becoming an even greater guardian.
“You… are not the intruder.”
Qilanxo divulged the truth. The multi-century old beast may not be as strong or full of knowledge like some of the other design spirits, but she had her own strengths.
The facade created by the false Rosa Orfan did not fool the beast for a second.
Now that the design spirit pointed it out, the real Rosa Orfan or what was left of her suddenly felt as if a fog had lifted from her eyes.
She suddenly realized the actual truth.
Venerable Orfan thought that the hostile ghost who appeared and took on the guise of Dise, Jannzi and a different version of herself was the demon that she set out to conquer.
Yet that was not the case at all. The truth was so much different from what she imagined.
The demon did not invade her soul directly. Instead, according to Qilanxo, the Prophet’s Bane had somehow tampered with a small part of her soul before sitting back and waiting for it to develop into a new and corrupted version of herself!
In other words, Rosa Orfan had actually been arguing with herself all this time!
A spark of anger ignited in the parts of her soul that remained untouched.
This spark rapidly turned into a blaze as Rosa suddenly managed to regain the ability to experience intense fury.
“You…. BASTARD!”
Thank you for reading my work. If you wish to support The Mech Touch, please vote with your golden tickets!
Purchase Privilege for The Mech Touch! Read a varying amount of chapters ahead of regular readers while enjoying a 99% discount on unlocking new chapters!
Join The Mech Touch’s unofficial Discord server: