When it came to the third and fourth duels, Ves did not take them as seriously.

While it was still important to prepare as best as possible to fight against the other two leaders of the Ascended Giants, they shouldn’t be as readily willing to kill him as the Unshakeable King and the Fiery Axe.

He quite enjoyed the process of sharing his thoughts with his daughter. While he had to be careful not to mention anything too sensitive, he believed that the RC did not mind if he told her less incriminating information about the current situation.

As an avid sword initiate as well as a capable marksman, Andraste was already ten times the warrior

"The third duel will be between the Dark Apostle and the Divine Harpoon." Ves told his daughter. "As you can imagine, the Divine Harpoon carries multiple harpoons on his person, each of which is connected to chains that he can use to pull anything he has caught. One of the special features is that they possess very high penetration characteristics, though it doesn’t mean he can instantly punch through every energy shield or spatial barrier. Just like us, he is not allowed to employ any superdimensional technology."

"That does not mean he can rely on other stuff to improve the penetration power of his harpoons." His daughter responded. "I bet his phasewater organs and raiment are all chosen to improve the strength of his throw and to make his harpoon penetrate better. You shouldn’t underestimate what he is good at. He’s the leader of the biggest troop, right? I think he has chosen to specialize in harpooning enemy phase lords and phase whales. As long as he can land a good throw, he can catch a big prey and slow it down long enough for the rest of his troops to descend and finish it off. If he wants to make this happen, then his harpoons have to be able to punch through the spatial barrier of at least a lesser phase lord."

"...Your words make sense."

Ves hadn’t thought about it from that angle. He watched the stolen footage of the Divine Harpoon carefully.

Unfortunately, he was one of those human phase lords who typically did not show off his full might during his training sessions. He especially did not display his full harpooning prowess, likely to prevent his subordinates from collecting accurate data in preparation to mount their own leadership challenge.

All of this placed the true strength of the Divine Harpoon underneath a cloud of uncertainty.

Nobody knew how much power he had been hiding over the past few months, or what aspects he focused on improving.

"Even if he is absurdly good at punching his harpoons through the defenses of phase lords, I do not think I have to worry about it as much as I should." Ves tentatively said. "We align with each other on a political level. The intelligence gathered from the headquarters indicate that he is pro-human. If this is true, then he should have a compelling interest in letting me win. This is why the Dark Apostle will meet him in the third duel. We are expecting him to make it a little easier for us to win. He can’t be too blatant about it, but it is undeniable that it is in his best interest that we take over the Phase Lord Department."

His daughter looked thoughtful after hearing that. "I have watched fighting tournaments where strategic losing is a thing. There are competitors that want to avoid a strong enemy or someone who can counter them pretty well in the next bracket if they win. There are also those who want to push one of their teammates ahead, and they can do that better by losing the right matches. There are rules that go against this, so it is not that easy to lose if you are known as a strong contender."

"How do these fighters cope with the restrictions?" Ves asked.

"Their favorite game plan is to take greater risks than usual." Her daughter responded. "They choose to fight more recklessly. It will look impressive, and it may allow them to win a match if they are able to maintain their tempo, but they will also expose greater openings. It is relatively easier to punish them for their aggression. If the Divine Harpoon is thinking about doing the same, then you should adopt a counterattack strategy. Avoid his harpoon throws as best as possible and try to attack him in between."

That sounded like a viable approach. It might not be the only way to cope with the Divine Harpoon, but it was a good starting point.

Ves smiled and rubbed his daughter’s adorable head. "Since the Divine Harpoon is a probable ally of ours, it is not a big priority for the Dark Apostle to possess a lot of lethality. This is why I am thinking about equipping my human phase lord self with a sword and shield combination."

"Why not a spear and shield combo? Your skill with a sword is worse than with a spear."

"That may be the case if I only wield a single weapon, but if I have to carry a shield, I can’t wield a spear in the same way. It may be handier for me to wield a sword instead." He said. "I have a way to make up for the gap in skill if it is necessary."

His daughter frowned. "You are disrespecting the sword. Ketis and the Swordmaidens would be angry if they heard you take swordsmanship so lightly. They will not be happy if they see you fumble around with a sword in your duel. I think it is better to stick with a short spear that you can comfortably wield with a single hand."

As a budding sword initiate that Ketis trained in person, Andraste understood the perspective of sword practitioners very well. They took swordsmanship very seriously. To see their former patriarch wield a sword without putting in any art of passion into his fighting style was blasphemy.

This was a surefire way to alienate himself from this key group of Larkinsons!

Ves eventually nodded. "I didn’t think about this angle. You are right to warn me about the potential repercussions. I cannot afford to sour my relationship with the Swordmaidens and the other sword practitioners of our clan. I will stick with what I am more comfortable with and wield a spear alongside a shield in the third duel. Given the Divine Harpoon’s offensive focus, I think it is better if I emphasize defense this time. This guy is probably not as threatening once you neutralize the threat of his iconic harpoons."

He started to draft a set of equipment that looked heavier and more robust. The raiment was notably thicker and better armored at the front. He also added in a physical shield that was sized large enough to provide strong protection to his torso and head.

While he preferred to make the shield bigger, the mass allowance limited the extent to which he could do this. Making a longer and larger shield ate up his mass budget pretty quickly. He did not deem it worthwhile to overinvest in this regard.

Ves fully expected the physical shield to endure the brunt of the offensive. He already planned to look for any interesting tech or materials that could at least temporarily boost its toughness and enable it to better withstand strong piercing attacks.

Given how much mass he allocated to the raiment and physical shield, he did not have much left over for the weapon. The spear had to be shorter than he would like. The lack of reach concerned him a bit, but he believed he could find other ways to compensate for this shortcoming.

"You do not need to chase after him." Andraste told her father. "He needs to chase after you. That is the standard when it comes to mech duels. I think the same applies here. Even if both of you are equally as heavy as you enter the dueling ground, your defenses are thicker and heavier. From these images, there is no way the harpoons used by this phase lord are light. They are so big that he can’t carry too much armor into the fight. That forces him to come to you as he possesses the advantage in mobility. You can legitimately stay in the same place and do nothing for an hour and still win the match by default if he refuses to come close."

Ves frowned. "That sounds nice, but I doubt the Divine Harpoon will continue to maintain his distance. He is an Ascended Giant after all. Even if he is one the saner ones, he still has to embody the honor and ideals of his troop. He will be branded a coward if he doesn’t even dare to come close. At the same time, my victory will ring hollow if I have won this match in such a lame manner."

The Divine Harpoon was bound to get close when his initial harpoon throws failed to produce the desired results.

Ves had to be ready to fight against an old and experienced soldier.

However, there was also a lot more space for the Divine Harpoon to expose deliberate weaknesses. He could overcommit on his attacks or maneuver in directions that were not as optimal.

The outcome of this duel heavily hinged on whether the Divine Harpoon was willing to play ball and concede victory to Ves.

The problem was that he could not be certain whether the strategos of the Faceless Giants was willing to compromise his integrity to this extent. If his transformation into a phase lord had messed him up to the point where he prioritized his pride and honor above his goals.

That was why Ves needed to take this possibility into account and make sure he could still stand a chance if the fight had progressed to this point.

"We may end up punching each other with our fists." Ves muttered. "This may be a problem because I don’t have many phasewater organs that can help me resist more blows or punch harder. Perhaps my only advantage is that my true body is larger and denser than most of the Ascended Giants. The limitations on scale might not make this prominent, but the extra mass and flesh definitely makes a certain difference in fights between different phase lords."

"Maybe that is enough for you to win the fight. Weight classes are very important in fighting tournaments. Those who are twice as heavy as their opponents don’t need to work as hard to win their matches." Andraste mentioned.

It would definitely be a nice advantage to have. It might also help him out in his matches against the other phase lords.

Ves knew that he possessed a powerful advantage over the Ascended Giants.

He received special treatment from the heavenly authority of the Red Ocean.

He knew that if he integrated more phasewater organs into his true body, his phasewater concentration magically increased at a rate far exceeding any normal level!

Perhaps Ves could take advantage of this by implanting a few helpful phasewater organs with the help of the Red Collective.

The lack of time would prevent him from fully mastering the new additions, so they should be as simple as possible in order to be of use in the imminent leadership challenge.

However, Ves worried about whether integrating additional phasewater organs so quickly would strengthen the Dark Apostle’s control over their shared true body.

Ves had already learned his lesson about rashly progressing his phase lord cultivation without fully understanding what he was doing.

Was it truly worthwhile to risk unanticipated consequences just to give himself a last-minute boost?

Perhaps he needed to discuss this matter further with the collies. They might know a lot more about this subject. He seriously suspected that he would need the boost provided by more martial-oriented phasewater organs in order to win enough duels.