Days came and went in sooner than everyone wished.
The Red Collective worked hard to prepare for the first major crisis it had gotten caught up in since its founding.
The Larkinsons also worked hard to realize the promise of effectively taking control over one of the strongest and most formidable fighting forces of red humanity.
Much was at stake.
Those in the know paid a lot of attention to this event. Many more parties had secretly planted listening devices and other spying equipment around Jotunheim. The icy planet that orbited far from the 3 stars had become a focal point in red humanity’s history.
Throughout all of this growing interest and scrutiny, the Larkinson Clan played it cool.
This was not the first time that Ves and the Larkinsons had found themselves at the center of a storm.
They bore the scrutiny with practiced ease as they understood that it was pointless to engage with third parties.
The Red Collective needed to solve this crisis internally, which meant that every source of help had to be routed through its channels first. It would be inappropriate for the Larkinsons to accept deals in exchange for concessions related to the Phase Lord Department.
Whether the Larkinsons could succeed in this endeavor remained to be seen. Few people expressed confidence in a mech designer’s ability to defeat not just 1, but several professional warriors and champions in back-to-back duels.
The entire leadership challenge did not even make sense to most people. How could a department as big and powerful as the Phase Lord Department be so idiotic to put its leadership up for grabs by giving it to the person with the biggest fist?
This was barbarism!
Such a phenomenon was a powerful indicator that red humanity was regressing as a society.
The more the madness of the Red Ocean seeped into the human consciousness, the more the human race deviated from the standards of the Milky Way.
Many people grew concerned about this trend.
A growing number of people came to believe that only strength mattered in this dangerous dwarf galaxy.
When the rules of the jungle took primacy over the rule of law, it was the savages that held all of the power, not the scholars!
Too many red humans couldn’t accept such a reality, yet their very own lack of power left them helpless to stop this trend.
So long as the native aliens and the mutated voribugs remained a civilization-ending threat, there was no way to stop the rise of a new breed of leaders.
It remained to be seen whether Ves Larkinson could transcend his origins as a mech designer and join the rising class of warriors.
The fact that a mech designer was able to become a fighter king of sorts should have been a ludicrous notion, but he was not the first to distinguish himself in this way.
With Ketis as the pioneer and forerunner, the notion that Ves could follow in the footsteps of his former student did not sound as unrealistic as it should.
That said, many people still doubted whether he could succeed in the leadership challenge. There was only so much that superior gear could make up the difference in combat prowess.
History was rife with smaller armies defeating larger ones, outdated warships trouncing modern equivalents and cheaper mechs humiliating more high-end machines.
All of these examples proved that factors such as skill, grit, willpower, training, discipline, morale, experience and many other intangibles were just as important if not more!
As a mech designer who never went through serious combat training, Ves Larkinson should still be an amateur in terms of combat.
How could he possibly defeat the likes of the Unshakeable King and the Oscillating Fist?
The Red Collective had done its best to recruit a strong batch of candidates among a large pool of top infantry combatants.
It had definitely not slacked off or allowed nepotism to allow unqualified warriors to get selected ahead of much more qualified soldiers.
Yet the current chief councilor of the Upper Council still chose to persist, which meant that he must have reasons to be confident about.
Was a mech designer truly about to take over the Phase Lord Department?
As unrealistic as it sounded, many people couldn’t help but suspect that this unlikely scenario may very well turn into a reality by the end of the day!
Ves was the most famous human in the Red Ocean who was not a part of a very exclusive club of tier 1 galactic citizens by now.
He had repeatedly proven his ability to succeed where many others would fail.
His legendary track record forced everyone who thought this leadership challenge was initially a foregone conclusion to keep an open mind.
If not for the fact that the Red Collective tried its best to avoid as much publicity as possible, a whole gaggle of starships would have arrived in orbit of Jotunheim in order to cheer Ves on and maybe lend a hand if the Phase Lord Department broke the agreement.
As it was, the mechs and warships from the Enforcement Department arrived well in advance and maintained a pretty tight security perimeter around Jotunheim.
They continually swept the surroundings of hard-to-detect spying devices and data relays. They also drove away tourists who had no business in the vicinity.
Even the bulk of the Bluejay Fleet had to stay just outside the expanded security perimeter.
It would not be fair for the Ascended Giants to commence their duels within the range of all of those intimidating warship gun batteries.
Only the Tarrasque was allowed to enter into a closer orbit, and even she was forced to lock all of her weapon systems as a precaution and a gesture of goodwill.
As the big day arrived, Ves had been putting the final touches on all of the fabricated combat equipment.
Much of it had gone through ’special treatment’ that dramatically enhanced and mutated their appearance and performance.
Though Ves knew that he had added a lot more complications to his wargear, he knew that he had little choice in the matter.
Despite his newly acquired combat skills, he never grew conceited enough that this alone would ensure that he could beat up a bunch of giant-sized meatheads.
It was better to be safe than sorry.
Although Ves regretted that he did not have enough time to apply more powerful transformations to his weapons and armor, he did not become dissatisfied with the results.
The treatments were relatively modest compared to what he could have made instead. The mutations fell within a reasonable range of tolerance and the risk of backlash remained small.
Even if his new gear tried to cause any problems, his newly acquired knowledge granted him plenty of ways to manage the situation.
His family stayed close to him in the final hour before he was about to show up at the dueling ground.