The Mech Touch novel Chapter 790

Once the Flagrant Swordmaidens agreed to the invitation, nine of the exobeasts along with their beast riders plodded back into Mulak. The city gates winched open, allowing the large creatures with Hokaz at the lead to return to their seat of power.

Naeduvis and Pirisa stayed behind to accompany the two groups of five sent out by the Vandals and the Swordmaidens.

All of them grew more apprehensive as they approached the huge and tall exobeast. Its dark blue coloring had faded a little after the duel, but the creature still radiated a sense of formless pressure around its old and terribly powerful body. _{freewebnσvel.cѳm}

Pirisa glanced at the armored forms of the visitors in fascination, paying a lot more attention to the Swordmaidens who adorned their armor with tribal trappings. Pirisa for her part wore a simple dress made out of woven fabric and decorated her appearance with various metal jewelry including an exquisitely crafted circlet over her head.

The beast rider for her part looked beautiful and acted like a queen. Her mixed heritage had given her a rich brown skin and her silky black hair had been put up in an elaborate bun that enhanced her stature.

"I am Pirisa, the Gatekeeper of the River of Souls. As a chosen of Naeduvis, we govern the life and death of every subject in Mulak. Within our domain, you must remember that you live at the pleasure of our sacred gods. If you offend Hokaz or Naeduvis, then nothing will save you from their wrath despite any assurances that we have made. Therefore, do not offend the dignity of our sacred gods!"

"We understand." Captain Clarissa replied smoothly. "We respect the sovereignty and dignity of your sacred gods, though please forgive us for worshipping other entities. We are strangers to these lands and your gods. Would you please provide us with an introduction?"

Naeduvis suddenly released a low roar. The low sound waves shook the ground and caused the Vandals and Swordmaidens to feel as if they ran through a malfunctioning sonic shower.

"Naeduvis is pleased with your interest! She is happy to allow me to regale you with the majesty of our pantheon!" Pirisa perked up.

Whether she understood the intentions of her exobeast through her roars or through an ongoing man-beast connection, nobody knew. Ves didn’t exactly have a scanner active right now.

Considering the fate of every spy drone the Vandals attempted to send near the beasts or into the city, these natives didn’t seem as helpless against advanced technology as everyone had initially thought. Activating any devices might get picked up by the scary creature who handedly outmassed a heavy mech. Ves did not want to find out what would happen if one of its limbs stomped down on his head.

"Let me start with the beginning." The beast rider said as they slowly walked towards the western gate of the city. Naeduvis turned out to be surprisingly thoughtful and matched its pace to the visitors on foot. "Mulak is an ancient city that was founded by our ancestors in a time before our sacred gods descended from the vault of the gods. It is the center of these wastes and home to several ancient treasures. Many gods and men covet what we have claimed for ourselves, but none have fought against our sacred gods and won!"

The group hardly made any progress towards the city gates. They probably could have reached it by now if the visitors stepped on top of Naeduvis, but the sacred god probably didn’t appreciate being ridden by strangers.

"Hokaz is not the first sacred god who has ruled these wastes. Many cycles before the time of my birth, our majestic god-king has challenged the sacred god who used to claim these lands! He easily won against the old and decrepit god, claiming all of the fallen’s god crystals as his spoils! After driving off the weak sacred gods that have pledged to serve old god, Hokaz has claimed the title of Tyrant of the Wastes and attracted other sacred gods under his godly domain."

The way Pirisa referred to the exobeasts as gods left little doubt of her belief in their divinity. She sounded genuinely respectful of them as entities beyond the reach of mortals!

Ves still couldn’t figure out if the exobeasts like Hokaz or Naeduvis called the shots or not. Were they actually sentient to the point where they exerted total control over the city and the surrounding lands?

The Flagrant Swordmaidens preferred to believe that the beast riders only claimed to speak on behalf of the sacred gods, using their influence over the exobeasts as badges of authority. Such an alternative sounded a lot more reassuring than dealing with thinking exobeasts that exhibited the intelligence of humans but remained affected by the instincts of beasts!

"Naeduvis here pledged allegiance to Hokaz first after he bested her in ritual combat! Impressed with her godly powers, Hokaz also claimed Naeduvis as his mate more than ten cycles ago. Since then, Hokaz has ruled the wastes as its god-king while Naeduvis rules over the ancient city of Mulak as its god-matriarch! So has our pantheon thrived from then. The sacred union of Hokaz and Naeduvis has blessed us with three godly offspring, while five more gods have acknowledged Hokaz as their king and ruler!"

"How long is a cycle?" Captain Orfan asked. She hadn’t quite bought into the entire tale.

To her, the exobeasts were anything but gods. They were merely overgrown lizards or creatures with a few extra tricks up their sleeves. Once the Flagrant Swordmaidens figured out how they performed their metaphysical abilities, she had nothing to fear from these giant animals.

"A cycle is a cycle. I cannot explain to you what a cycle is. All I can say that I have lived for four-and-a-half cycles."

"A cycle is probably a local year." Ves concluded and performed a quick calculation in his mind. "One year on Aeon Corona VII lasts for 3249 days. That’s almost nine standard years. Therefore, Pirisa is thirty-five years old!"

The woman in question frowned at their use of unfamiliar terminology. She looked a little older than thirty-five years old actually, but the Vandals and Swordmaidens chalked it up to their harsher living conditions.