The centerpiece of this ceremony was the statue. Not Ves. Though his role was essential in shaping the opinions of his audience, he was not of the star of the show today.
In order to achieve his desired results, Ves needed to get everyone to worship the statue of the Superior Mother.
In order to do that, Ves took a page from the likes of Prophet Ylvaine and other successful charlatans. He had already constructed a spiritual image of himself as a fanatical proselytizer!
Once he donned this mask, he gained an intensity in his mind that suddenly made him very eager to spread the gospel of motherhood!
“Mothers.” Ves began. “Are the most honored people in existence. They are the carriers of life. Each of us emerged from their wombs. Each of us owe our lives from the sacrifices they make.”
The statue began to sparkle under the light. That was mostly due to the special formula that Ves applied to its surface layer.
It made it seem as if the statue was made up out of stars. The glinting lights made it harder for people to study its details, but that only added to its mystery!
“It is a shame that not everyone has the privilege to grow up under the care of a loving mother. Do you remember the times when your mother kissed your cheek? Do you recall the times when she hugged you and soothed you when you cried? Back when you were young, your mother seemed like the most important woman of your life. Do you still think that there can never be a better woman in your life than your mother?”
His words possessed an unnatural power. Everyone who listened to him, the guards included, couldn’t help but think back on their own childhoods!
A lot of nostalgia started to appear on the faces of the men. Ves grinned at the sight. He had already succeeded in hypnotizing them with his Devil Tongue.
Unfortunately, not everyone was as easy to crack. He glimpsed down at Vincent Ricklin, who had grown up under difficult circumstances.
As Ves floated around the statue in circles, he peered at the faces of the Penitent Sisters and the Swordmaidens.
Both groups of strong-willed women held out for different reasons.
Just like Gloriana, the Penitent Sisters felt offended by this ritual.
As for the Swordmaidens, they all grew up under very tough circumstances in the frontier.
Ves knew he had to change tack.
“Mothers serve an indispensable role.” He spoke. “They are the bearers of children. My children. Your children. Everyone’s children. The continuation of life rests on their shoulders. It is in their belly that mech pilots and presidents are born! No matter how great or humble you currently are, everyone of us started from the same origin.”
Technically, that wasn’t entirely true. Some people were born from artificial wombs. This was usually the case when the woman who was supposed to carry a child suffered from severe health problems or couldn’t afford to carry a child due to work reasons.
Though resorting to an artificial womb was a hassle-free way to bring a baby to term, most women didn’t choose to do so unless it was absolutely necessary.
Therefore, Ves didn’t have to worry about offending too many people who were born from technology rather than flesh.
He smiled and spread his arms. “The statue you see before you represents the woman known as the Superior Mother. When you think of this word, what do you imagine?”
What did the audience imagine? Many of them who looked at the ethereal-looking statue began to imagine their own mothers. Others began to conjure up other people’s mothers. Some even thought about fictional mothers!
No matter what, no human was unfamiliar with mothers. They played such a ubiquitous role in society that humanity could not do without their existence!
“Each of you are probably thinking about different mothers.” He said. “I am no different. When I think about the word mother, I think of my youth where I was just a little boy. I was an energetic child back then. I was happy and my mother always made sure to keep me that way. She fed me when I was hungry, clothed me when I was cold, tucked me in bed when I was afraid of the dark and kissed me when I wanted affection. All of my needs were met. Those were some of the happiest days of my life.”
He truly spoke from his heart. His spiritual mask didn’t distort his meaning all that much. It was just that his happy memories of Cynthia Larkinson were only confined to his early childhood!
As for the Cynthia that showed up when he was an adult, Ves conveniently pushed those memories to the back of his mind.
He began to look around again and saw that he managed to grip the hearts of the women.
Hexers placed supreme importance on motherhood. Even boy-haters like the Penitent Sisters revered mothers to an immense degree!
As for the Swordmaidens, while their childhoods weren’t all that ideal, most of them still grew up with the support of a mother. No matter how awful the circumstances in the frontier degenerated, mothers were still the same, mostly.
Ves acknowledged this fact in his speech. “Every mother is different. Some mothers kiss their children more often than others. Some mothers prefer to spoil their children than to discipline them. Some are poor, some are rich, some are strong, some are frail. Yet no matter their differences, they all share something in common. Love.”
A wave of warmth spread from his body as he shared his childhood affection. That innocent love and trust he held for his mother was something he cherished for his entire life. Now, he bared it to his audience, allowing every to experience the wondrous sensation of enjoying the unconditional love of a mother!
Some people began to tear up. Others began to look nostalgic as the sensation triggered their own memories of their mother’s affection.
“The reason why this statue is called the Superior Mother is not because it stands for the ideal model. To me, the Superior Mother is an embodiment of every mother that attempts to do right by their children. No matter what difficulties and challenges they face, a good mother always strives to devote their whole lives to the betterment of their children!”
A lot of Hexers among the Penitent Sisters reacted with shock! This was not the correct interpretation of the Superior Mother! Yet.. why did it seem as if Ves Larkinson’s definition sounded more compelling?
He smiled at the puzzlement of some of his audience. “The Superior Mother stands for mothers. She is not an unattainable ideal. All it takes to match her standard is for a mother to discharge their parental responsibilities and strive for their children. That is enough for them to earn a medal.”
Gloriana, who floated alongside Ves, looked rather emotional at his words. Though she highly objected to this farcical ceremony at the start, she began to fall under his spell.
Now, it didn’t seem so important anymore that Ves got all of the details wrong!
Ves turned his head to his girlfriend and looked in her eyes with a loving expression. He reached out and held her hand. “Every woman has the potential to become the Superior Mother. Men like me are lucky to be in the presence of such fantastic women. The Superior Mother is not an unattainable ideal. She is all around us! We are blessed to have such women in our lives!”
“Oh, Ves…” Gloriana lovingly said as she got caught up in his passionate eyes.
Ves impulsively leaned in and kissed her in the mouth.
“Love.. comes from the heart!” He stated. “And out of all of the humans in existence, it is mothers who possess the greatest hearts! The Superior Mother’s love and affection for her children is boundless and limitless.”
His words conjured up an extremely high opinion of mothers! Hardly anyone in the crowd, whether they were men or women, thought he was wrong!
Ves floated closer to the statue and patted its cheek. “Unfortunately, too many people in the galaxy have grown up without the affection of a mother. This is a sad state of affairs. My goal for bringing you all here today is to rectify this great wrong.”
He puffed his chest and began to unleash his burning passion. “Today, I want to create a new glow! Please, lend me your strength! Help me bring the personification of the Superior Mother to life so that I can share her warmth to everyone who is deprived of a mother!”
None of his words seem to have anything to do with mechs, but that didn’t matter. His appeal sounded so earnest and noble that every single member of the audience couldn’t help but agree to his demand! Their hearts were practically bursting to help!
“If you share my aspiration, if you wish to help, simply kneel before the Superior Mother. Look at her. Admire her. Worship her. The more you think about the Superior Mother, the more she will become real to all of us! We are all her children, and we are all the reasons why she exists. Without children, the Superior Mother won’t feel joy in her life! Therefore, please help her out and remind her why she bears her burden.”
Everyone enthusiastically knelt on the ground and began to worship the statue in earnest. The words they heard all put them into a special mindset where they all began to imagine the statue of the Superior Mother coming to life!
Ves joyfully grinned at the sight. Yes! This was exactly what he set out to achieve! He could practically feel the energy from the crowd resonating with his mood. He possessed absolute confidence that he would succeed his strongest design spirit to date now that he got caught up in the energy of his own show!
“Let us begin.” Ves privately communicated to Gloriana.
Both of them turned around to face the statue. As Ves began to concentrate his mind, he proceeded to go to work.
The first step was to bring out all of the ingredients and smash them apart.
Ves proceeded to do so in a brutal fashion. Empowered by the grandiose circumstances, he eagerly formed a spiritual projection before proceeding to use it as a hammer with gusto!
He first pulled out the spiritual fragment derived from the remnant of the original idol located in the heart of the statue. Though he hated to shatter it, it was a necessary process to create a new life.
Next, he mentally reached out towards the containers resting in the zone that represented the phase of godhood.
He pulled out the spiritual fragments of Qilanxo and Lucky and began to smash both of them apart.
Neither of them resisted. If they did, Ves would have a much harder time!
After that, he pulled out the spiritual fragment derived from the residue of the wooden statuette carved by his mother. Ves looked at the head of the statue with a brief look of uncertainty.
Fortunately, his hesitancy only lasted for a split second. Once he was ready to process this ingredient, he ruthlessly smashed it as if it was a scary monster!
He briefly turned towards the womb of the statue. He exhibited a bit of fear this time. Even though the seed of life didn’t exhibit a lot of activity, it was still considerably strong!
The question he faced was whether it would resist his attempts to break it apart. For some reason, his intuition started to warn him that this might be a bad idea.
He still went through, though. The life-attributed spiritual energy derived from the sample of the serum was so potent that it would definitely be able to supercharge his new spiritual product!
As his concentration grew unprecedentedly sharp, his momentum started to grow. As soon as he accumulated enough energy in his spiritual projection, he hammered it towards the seed of life!
The life-attributed spiritual energy locked within the P-stone held on for a time, but it didn’t possess the power to resist now that it had been torn from its root!
A brilliant explosion of life and energy emanated from the center of the statue. Suddenly, every prostrating member of the crowd felt as if the statue had truly come to life!
Ves frantically tried to sweep up every single shard of life-attributed spiritual energy as possible. Though he missed a couple, he at least managed to prevent the rest of it from drifting away.
As soon as he stuffed it in the loose amalgamation of shards, the new addition immediately started to react with the other shards.
Like a mother giving birth to their children, the product of the seed of life started to infuse life into spiritual shards.
This was completely unprecedented to Ves!
