"Book, please."
Nitaa handed over the Larkinson Mandate to his armored hand.
Ves placed the tome next to Ghanso's restrained body.
"Goldie? Can you come out, please?"
Nyaaaaa.
The Golden Cat emerged out of the book and materialized her body. She looked a bit downcast due to the many losses the Larkinson Clan had suffered.
"What is that?!"
Ghanso initially regarded Goldie as a projection, but his crumbling and leaking force of will was still functional enough to recognize the extraordinary nature of the ancestral spirit's existence.
Ves lovingly caressed Goldie's back, though his gauntlets made the experience a lot rougher than unusual.
Nyaaa.
"She is.. the purest distillation of the Larkinson Clan. Every true Larkinson is kin to her. As long as you are a Larkinson who is supportive to other Larkinsons, then Goldie will bless you with her warmth. Are you feeling okay right now?"
"Get this filthy animal off me! I hate cats!"
Nyaaaa!
Goldie raised her tail and hissed at Ghanso.
Obviously, there was no affection between them at all. Whereas other Larkinsons always felt comfortable being in the presence of the Larkinson Mandate or the Golden Cat, Ghanso simply reacted as if he was touching a hot coal.
"Interesting. Goldie, you can return now if you don't want to stay."
That was exactly what she wanted. After expressing her dislike by hissing at Ghanso one last time, she dove back into the Larkinson Mandate as if she was eager to escape a stinking bathroom.
"Well, I've made up my mind." Ves muttered. "If even Goldie hates you, there really is no reason for me to feel remorseful over your death."
"Don't bother with your falsehoods. You.. would probably dance on my grave."
"I'm very happy to see you gone." His glee showed through his transparent faceplate. "I won't lie about that. I'm still a decent human being, though. I've already won. You're a challenging opponent, so the least I can do is to give your body the respect it deserves. I promise to give it a dignified burial."
Though Ves sounded smug as hell, Ghanso relaxed a bit after hearing that Ves had no intentions to defile or dishonor his corpse.
"Thank you…"
"We are civilized people here. War is unquestionably gruesome, but it also produces the most noble moments in human history. I think it is important that our Larkinsons stay true to their noble ideals. I don't want them to descend into barbarism. The best way to reinforce that trend is to give your remains a respectful sendoff."
"Even at this time, you still think about exploiting others.. figures.."
"Our society is based around interests. Cooperation is gained through shared interests and conflicts are usually sparked by competing interests. No one does anything for free. That's stupid. Then again, I don't expect you to understand. Even now, you think that the Larkinson Family must return to the Bright Republic in order to become their war dogs, is that right?"
"It's not like that!" Ghanso angrily replied. "There is honor in service! We must continue the legacy of our predecessors!"
Ves just shook his head at that. He was losing patience in this conversation.
Just as he was about to open his mouth, a chime sounded from the entrance hatch.
"Come in."
A bot floated inside that carried a number of metal boxes.
"Ah, I've been waiting for this delivery."
Ves took one of the boxes and brought it next to Ghanso.
The expert pilot looked confused. "What is.. that?"
"Oh, it's just a prop for my next experiment.
An ominous feeling swept over Ghanso as he looked at Ves' increasingly more enthusiastic expression. Whatever was left of his intuition screamed in alarm!
"Get.. back… I don't want.. to get involved with whatever you have in mind!"
Ves amusingly chuckled. "What makes you think you have a choice? While I don't want to do harm to any kin of mine, you're no Larkinson. Not to me. You're a test subject, Ghanso. Enjoy your final moments as a living human being."
"Wait.. we can talk about this! I have rights, Ves! You can't do this to me! ARRGGHHHH!"
Venerable Ghanso experienced an overwhelming amount of mental pain!
Ves mustered up his entire Spirituality to do something that he had always dreamed about but never dared to implement due to the taboo it represented.
Yet now that the Battle of Reckoning happened to serve a dying expert pilot to him on a silver platter, how could he possibly resist?
"You're not getting rid of me so easily, Ghanso!"
Ves roughly scooped into Ghanso's mind and tried to pull out as much of the expert's mental stuff as possible.
This was a rough, painful and extremely destructive process because it was impossible to extract an expert pilot's mind and spirit in a single go. What this essentially meant was that Ves was literally tearing pieces of Ghanso's mentality with every scoop!
Whatever piece of will, thought, spirituality or other mind junk he managed to grab quickly entered the P-stone that Ves had just received.
The P-stone ensured that the mental pieces did not deteriate any further due to outside exposure. If Ves was able to separate an expert pilot mentality as a single whole, then it may be possible to keep the individual in question alive in the truest sense.
Sadly, Ves wasn't at that level yet. He could only employ this crude and destructive method to salvage as much of an expert pilot's mind, will and spirit as possible.
Venerable Ghanso's body convulsed! His body was shaking as if he was being shocked by a current.
The signs so bad that Dr. Ranya forcibly intruded into the treatment room. She attempted to get closer, but Nitaa firmly blocked her advance.
"What are you doing?!"
It was too bad that Ves had no time to answer the doctor. He sped up his scoping until he hollowed out Ghanso's completely collapsed mind.
While there were a few tiny bits and pieces that Ves had missed, they quickly disappeared into the imaginary realm without any protection.
The body ceased convulsing. It had become completely braindead without a spirit.
"He.. he's dead, isn't he?"
"He is." Ves nodded as he carefully closed the box holding the P-stone filled with his latest experimental materials. "Don't bother to wake him up or anything. He's a goner. Just keep the body in this state. Let's make it look as good as possible for its upcoming burial."
Ghanso Larkinson had officially died.