The Martial Unity

Yet, his proposition was sound despite his insane antics.

Rui closed his eyes as he considered the commission that the Divine Doctor had made of him.

A commission to help the Divine Doctor with the diagnosis of Gaia’s alleged illness. As the sole Martial Master in the entire world who had gained the enlightenment of the Tree of Life, Rui was the only Martial Master who could help the

It was an appealing commission.

It was true that Rui needed to expose himself to the world to truly fulfill Project Water in an absolute sense. Thus, he did not need to derail his life in order to fulfill the Divine Doctor’s commission.

Furthermore, the Divine Doctor had specified that there were absolutely no limiting conditions on the commission as long as Rui helped him find the diagnosis.

Not even time was a limiting factor since the Divine Doctor had an eternity ahead of him. He had extreme patience, psychologically speaking. This was a man who saw no problem with spending more than a decade traveling through the Beast Domain by foot to reach the Mellow in the south, a journey that had taken Rui and Kane three months.

He wouldn’t mind if Rui took more than a century to fulfill this commission.

In other words, it was so loose and relaxed that it could hardly be called a commission.

Additionally, Rui knew that accepting this commission was necessary to get the Divine Doctor to remain in Kandria as a citizen and a practicing doctor in return for both the Silas Clan’s services and the Elder Tree communication network.

If the doctor remained, it would benefit all of Kandria. All of the people in his life that he cared about could indirectly benefit significantly. He could make sure the children and people of the orphanage were in optimal health. He could potentially get Julian an apprenticeship with the greatest doctor in all of Panama.

Who knew? The Divine Doctor could potentially help him with integrating Primordial Seed into his body with his extraordinary medical knowledge and capabilities.

“…If you’re willing to accept a small favor every now and then, sure,” Rui casually replied. “I’ll accept your commission.”

Kandria was far too much of a safe space.

It was also an extremely small fraction of all of Panama and Gaia. While he had explored a decent amount of the world during his self-imposed exile from the Kandrian Empire for about eight years after leaving the Shionel Confederation, it was still just a fraction of everything Gaia had to offer.

Thus, he ultimately decided that the commission didn’t take away anything from him and gave him far too much to reject it.

“Now then.” Rui narrowed his eyes. “Tell me, how does the soul transference ritual work? How does it transfer the soul from one body to another body? What are its requirements and principles? Most importantly, what can it tell me about the person or people who performed the soul transference ritual on me?”

The maniacal grin on the Divine Doctor’s face.

It widened, warping his entire face in madness.

The glint of insanity within the depths of the Divine Doctor’s eyes only grew more intense.

“…Haha…” A shaky laugh escaped him. “Hahaha…”

Rui frowned.

“HAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAARRGRHHHHH!!!” The man broke out into a maniacal laughter as his hands pressed against his head. “HAHAHAHAAAAA!!!”

The air boiled with tension as the Divine Doctor grew more unhinged.

His mannerisms degenerated to the verge of insanity.

His eyes twitched as his hands shook.

His laughter only grew more maddening and maniacal.

For the first time in his life, Rui felt truly fearful of a mere human.

“Tell me…” The Divine Doctor’s voice quivered. “What do you think a soul is?”

Rui shrugged lightly. “Like a wispy transparent blob with the appearance of the physical body.”

It was the classic portrayal of a soul in fiction; it was almost impossible to think of souls with that image in mind, considering how universal it was.

“Fool.” The Divine Doctor sneered with derision.

Rui’s eyes sharpened with severity. “Excuse me?”

“There is no such thing as a soul,” the Divine Doctor grew more excited. “It doesn’t exist. There is no blob of energy that contains the sum totality of the information characterizing a person. It does not exist. It cannot exist! The mind cannot exist outside of the body for it is deeply interwoven with the body. The endocrine system controls emotions, the nervous system lies at the root of all experience and agency of the mind, and each of the various systems of the physical body is responsible for shaping and controlling the mind. For controlling the very essence of who you are as a being. When a body dies, that person truly dies then and there.”

“Wait…” Rui’s eyes widened with fear. “What are you saying? Doesn’t that mean…?”

“Correct,” the Divine Doctor’s sneer of amusement grew wider as a glint of madness flashed in the depths of the man’s eyes. “The soul transference ritual does not transfer souls.” His maniacal grin of insanity only grew wider. “I never cured death. Or, should I say, the Divine Doctor never cured death. He had tried, but he failed. What he created was not reincarnation or immortality, but merely a means of passing on his will and memories.”

Horror emerged within the depths of Rui’s eyes as realization dawned on him.

“Calling it the ‘soul transference’ ritual was the Beggar Sage’s idea,” the Divine Doctor grew more excited as he revealed the truth to Rui. “To convince others of it; after all, nobody would ever choose to go through the soul transference ritual if they understood what it actually was. What it truly was.”

“What…?” A single whisper escaped Rui as he stared at the Divine Doctor with unadulterated horror. “What are you saying…?”

“Tell me,” the Divine Doctor’s smile widened even deeper as anticipation lit up in his eyes. “What was your previous name?”

“…John. John Falken.” A whisper barely escaped Rui as he stared at the Divine Doctor, frozen in horror.

The man walked up to him, putting a hand on his shoulder with a pleasant smile as he stared deep into Rui’s eyes.

“You are not John Falken.”

His smile grew cruel.

“You were never John Falken.”

His smile grew sadistic.

“You are simply a victim.”

His voice was filled with derision.

“A victim of brainwashing.”

Ecstasy lit up in the Divine Doctor’s eyes as he arrived at the whole truth.

“A brainwashed victim who was deluded to believe that he is John Falken. Brainwashed to believe that he was ever John Falken. Brainwashed with the memories of John Falken implanted into your mind through advanced hypnosis developed by the Psycher. You are not John Falken. You were never John Falken. And you will never be John Falken.”

His eyes bore deeply into Rui’s eyes as a single question escaped him.

“Who are you?”

RUMBLE!!!

The world roared as heaven and earth shuddered.

For the first time in his life, Rui’s Martial Drive shook, threatening to collapse.

–