The Mech Touch

Though Ves felt incredibly conflicted about how he should resolve the Cassandra Breyer situation, there was no way he could maintain the status quo.

If he had a choice, he would have chosen to retain the current arrangement. Although Breyer alloy had largely become dispensable to the current Larkinson Clan, no one said no to a free and convenient source of second-class materials.

By choosing to change nothing, Ves would not have to bear any risks either. He did not have to resolve a difficult dilemma where he could either learn the truth about Cassandra Breyer or kill her without ever discovering her true identity and motives.

Over the years, Ves had come up with a lot of possible theories about who she was and how she was connected to him. Some of them were more favorable than others.

For example, Cassandra could have been his aunt on his mother's side. Perhaps she sought Ves out in order to save her from her current state of half-death or get in touch with Cynthia again.

Cassandra could also be a former Holy Daughter of the Five Scrolls Compact. Perhaps she might have been the previous controller of the System before she lost it. The reason why she came back from the dead was because she wanted to take back her former possession!

Perhaps Cassandra belonged to an ancient witch coven that had developed spiritual powers since before humanity ascended to the stars. These powerful ancient witches had spent millenia developing and refining their spiritual applications, but possessed harsh requirements for spiritual perception and talent.

For this reason, the ancient witch sought out a successor that could help her come back to life and the only one in this corner of space who was suitable happened to be Ves. This was why she stuck to him like a barnacle on a sea-faring hull.

Cassandra Breyer could also be an illegitimate Rubarthan princess who fled from the galactic rim because she developed powers that were traditionally associated with the New Rubarth Empire's enemies. She spent decades if not centuries to flee all the way to the galactic rim in order to escape the overbearing reach of her father and emperor and start a peaceful new life alongside someone who could understand her powers but had no relations with the Five Scrolls Compact.

"Maybe I'm just letting my fantasies go wild and none of this reflects the truth."

The fact of the matter was that Ves never figured out anything that was important about Cassandra Breyer. He could speculate on her identity based on her spiritual powers, the design and providence of her Breyer alloy escape pod and her insistence on sticking to him.

Properly speaking, he should have put more effort into obtaining actual answers instead of letting Cassandra remain stuck in this endless cyclical purgatory.

By letting this situation linger on like this for several years, Ves believed he had exhausted all of the goodwill that Cassandra held towards him, assuming that her disposition towards him was initially benign.

"If she's a friend or a relative of mine, then she certainly hates my guts after treating her like this for so many cycles." Ves muttered.

"Meow." Lucky nodded his head in agreement.

He realized that he was stalling for time. He had already made a decision on how to handle Cassandra Breyer a long time ago. It was why he never thought to get any answers from her even if he possessed the means to do so. He was afraid of opening this dangerous box.

"Whether she is family or not, friendly or hostile, helpful or harmful, I can't take any risks. It would be nice if she's my long-lost grandmother or something, but if she's an enemy… I don't know if I can handle her once she is able to unleash her full might."

Cassandra Breyer was definitely a formidable spiritual sorcerer. Though it was difficult to estimate her strength, her methods and sophisticated application of spiritual energy left him with little doubt that she was a true master in the mysterious arts!

Compared to his primitive development in spiritual engineering, Cassandra's spiritual sorcery was at least a hundred times more advanced!

Although Ves temporarily held the upper hand due to Cassandra's current troubled state, that could easily change once he freed her or allowed her to restore her strength.

Could she beat him in a straight fight? Ves wasn't sure. In the past, he had no confidence in his chances. These days, he has grown a lot stronger. Not only did he gain Blinky, he could also call upon a host of powerful design spirits.

That said, did Ves even want to take the chance of confronting a potentially-hostile spiritual sorceress?

"Nope."

Ves had tempered his curiosity as of late. After dealing with several life-threatening disasters including surviving an encounter with a dwarf that he should have killed more thoroughly, he became a lot more sensitive towards the potential consequences of his actions.

Cassandra Breyer could easily become his next Sigrund or Rion if he decided to play with fire and gave in to his curiosity.

"I can't afford to make another enemy and start another incident when I'm this close to the beyonder gate!" He was determined.

His appetite for risk was usually generous, but just thinking about waking up this witch sent shivers through his spine. He could intuitively feel how strong she could be and how little it would take to allow her to become free again.

Ves couldn't control the situation at all if that happened, and that was why he resolved to never let this scenario come true.

Instead of playing russian roulette by putting a revolver on his head, he would rather point the gun at Cassandra Breyer and pull the trigger enough times to remove a permanent threat!

His urge for safety successfully overcame his guilty conscience.

Even if he ended up killing a potential friend or relative by mistake, he would not feel any regret about his choice.

"I'm working on a limited amount of information here." He said, as if justifying his decision to the woman that had been burned so many times that she must hate fire with a vengeance. "It doesn't really help that you initially intruded on my life by pretending to be a scary ghost. If you truly wanted help, then you should have approached nicely."

Ves grasped at any chance to shift the blame away from him. He did not want to feel as if he made the wrong choice. He had made up his mind, so any further procrastination and excuses only hindered him from what he must do to remove a risk factor from his life.

In his perspective, Cassandra Breyer was as malevolent as Nyxie to him. If Ves hadn't gotten rid of this ancient alien tyrant, the former source of spiritual fragments would have gotten free before lashing out against the mech designers who exploited his strength!

He lowered his head for a moment before he gathered his courage. "Blinky?"

Mrow?

"Do it. When she and her escape pod reappears again, do your best to intercept all of the energy that she is drawing from an unknown source. It doesn't matter whether you digest it or not, but don't give this woman any sustenance!"

Mrow mrow!

Ves settled in for a brief wait as he waited for the escape pod and its undying occupant to reappear again.

He only told Lucky and Nitaa to be ready for anything, but they would most likely be unable to play a role in any hostilities that might ensue.

This was a battle that only certain entities could take part in. If Blinky wasn't enough to resolve this potential threat, then Ves would immediately call on his design spirits starting with the Superior Mother to bail him out!

For safety's sake, he preemptively donned his Unending Regalia. Its thin layer of B-stone provided him with a limited amount of protection against spiritual attacks, which might be useful if Cassandra managed to launch an attack.

He did not have to wait long for Blinky to perform his role. When the escape pod finally reappeared again, it was easy enough for the cat to find the flow of energy and take it all for himself.

As a result of all of this absorption, Blinky began to generate a lot of converted spiritual energy!

Although this energy was all compatible with Ves, there was currently no way he could hold or make use of so much excess spiritual energy.

Blinky had no choice but to dump out all of the excess spiritual energy he produced and let it go to waste.

Ves kept a careful eye on what was taking place as the automated systems began to recycle the escape pod once again.

"Will this be enough or will she reappear again?"

It turned out that the latter was the case. Despite destroying the Breyer alloy escape pod, a new one reappeared once again.

However, Ves noticed a difference this time! He carefully sensed the amount of energy that Cassandra Breyer contained and noticed that it had dropped to an extent!

"Yes! It's working!"

He estimated that her energy levels dropped by around 5 to 8 percent, which meant that Cassandra could only restore her condition for a maximum of 20 times before she completely ran out of juice.

"I guess I'm in for a long wait."

He had plenty of time. Ves merely settled down and distracted himself by thinking about his upcoming mech designs or performing routine paperwork.

All the while, Blinky attentively performed his job and made sure that no matter where Cassandra Breyer drew her energy from, the cat would always be there to steal her food!

This cycle repeated over and over again. Each time the corpse and the escape pod reappeared again, the total energy that Cassandra possessed dropped a bit more.

Although Ves acted casually at this time, he was actually tightly wound. If the woman attempted a violent breakout attempt, he would be ready to step in right away.

Yet… she never moved. Ves already theorized that she lacked the energy to do so. If she could have extricated herself from this cycle, she should have done it a long time ago. There was no logical reason to believe she possessed an even greater chance of freeing herself when she had less spiritual energy at her disposal!

He smirked. "I don't know whether you call yourself a priestess, a sorceress or a goddess, but the almighty law of conservation of energy is inescapable. I won't fall for your superstitious act. Without energy, you can't do anything."

Her energy levels steadily dropped to around 20 percent before Ves sensed a change.

Cassandra Breyer's spiritual barrier had grown a lot feebler and less stable. This caused him to stand on his feet and ready himself for any unanticipated changes.

Yet despite her increasingly more wobbly state, Cassandra's barrier never broke. It simply grew weaker alongside the rest of her. Perhaps it functioned as a prison rather than a protection mechanism. Ves didn't know and he wasn't interested in finding out the answer.

Slowly but surely, Cassandra's total energy weakened until it had reached around 5 percent or less. When her escape pod burned for a final time, Ves could already sense that her Breyer alloy escape pod would never reappear again.

"A pity."

It was also a relief. An invisible weight was lifted off his shoulder. The worst-case scenario had not occurred. Cassandra Breyer died with a whimper rather than with a bang. The epic spiritual duel that he feared so much had not materialized.

Ves let out a deep and relieved breath. "Goodbye and good riddance."

That was all the thought he was willing to spare for Cassandra Breyer's passing.

He turned around and began to think about what he needed to do to clean up the remaining incriminating evidence. He needed to get rid of the Scarlet Rose. The entire ship was tainted and should never fall into the hands of others.

"Meow!"

"What?!"

When Ves turned around, he realized to his horror that the same escape pod that he thought was gone forever had actually materialized once again!

There was a difference, though.

The escape pod cover had slid open and a single mummified hand poked out! More spiritual energy than Ves had ever sensed from Cassandra Breyer accumulated from this limb!

"What the hell is going on?!" Ves screamed in panic!