The Martial Unity

While the whole of East Panama was rocked by the national emergency declared by the Kandrian Empire, Rui had his own thoughts and considerations regarding the matter.

He was pleased by the outcome.

He would get to experience grueling combat against the Martial Masters of the Sekigahara Confederate. He knew that the Sekigahara Confederate was generally considered to be the most Martially powerful state in recent years due to the slowdown of the Britannian Empire since the breakthrough of the Transcendent Emperor.

Of course, he knew that that no longer was true with the treasures that the Kandrian Empire possessed.

With things like the upgraded Squire evolution process from the Divine Doctor and the Hungry Pain, as well as his blessings for each individual Martial Body of the Upper Realms, there was a good chance that the Kandrian Empire had surpassed the Sekigahara Confederate with that alone.

However, the addition of the seven new Martial Sages alone was damning. With this, the Kandrian Empire would be officially recognized as the strongest Sage-level powerhouse in existence, with a whopping twenty-three Martial Sages on retainer.

That was more than any other powerhouse in existence.

He knew that they were quite secure on the Sage-level front in this new war.

The most difficult burden would fall on the shoulders of the Martial Masters of the Kandrian Empire. While Kandria had enough power to potentially equal the Sage-level combat potential of the three Sage-level powerhouses of East Panama, it most certainly was lacking, to a certain extent, in the Master Realm.

Of course, they were also lacking in the Squire and Senior realms, but that didn’t matter because Squires and Seniors were too weak to affect the strategic outlook.

From the demographics of the deep strike force, Rui had already figured out that the goal of this operation was to tie up the Martial Sages and ensure that they couldn’t intervene in the Master-level battles while using the Martial Masters to break into the Kandrian Empire and inflict damage to its key systems and sectors.

While most other Martial Masters cursed the Sekigahara Confederate, Rui was perhaps the only one who was grateful for this strategy. Immense pressure was exactly what he needed.

And he looked forward to it.

However, before he joined the Master-level interception force, he had some things to do.

STEP

He arrived at the Quarrier Orphanage, gently landing from the sky.

Even before his arrival, he could sense the negativity emanating from the minds of all of his friends and family with the mind sense of the Martial Mind. Anxiety, anguish, fear. It would be stranger if they didn’t experience any of these.

“Big brother!” Max and Mana were the first to sense him.

“Big brother, we just heard the national emergency declared!” Mana exclaimed to him with a worried expression. “Are we under attack or something?” Max frowned.

“Yes,” Rui confirmed with a calm expression. “We are under attack from the Sekigahara Confederate. I need the two of you to gather everybody and head to the outer districts in the town of Hajin.”

The Martial Squires widened their eyes in surprise. “We’re under attack…?!”

“There’s no time to waste at all,” Rui urged them. “I need the two of you to ensure that everybody gets to the bunkers in the town of Hajin.”

He glanced at the other members of the orphanage who had caught up with him.

“Rui…” Julian gazed at him with a grave expression. “…Are we in danger?”

“No.” Rui shook his head. “You’re almost certainly not going to get hurt, I can assure you. The evacuation is just a precaution because we don’t want to take chances, so make sure you head to the underground shelters, got it?”

Julian nodded with a solemn expression. “We’ll get there.”

“Good.” Rui nodded. “I’d love to stay with you, but I need to head out to join the interception force, so I’ll be seeing you after this is over.”

A lot of the members of the orphanage stiffened as they realized he would undoubtedly be partaking in the war to protect the Kandrian Empire.

“Thank you and… be safe.”

Rui smiled. “I will. You guys need to head to Hajin immediately, got it?”

They all nodded before bidding Rui goodbye.

Rui immediately headed toward the interception force that was preparing to head out and intercept the force that was rapidly heading their way even as they prepared.

The battle would not happen at the border of the Kandrian Empire.

It wouldn’t happen anywhere near the Kandrian Empire at all.

If the enemy Martial Sages were allowed to reach the fort wall, then the risk of damage to the Kandrian Empire was too high. Thus, the Martial Sages needed to be intercepted far away from the Kandrian Empire to ensure that the nation’s security was not compromised in an attempt to protect it.

The same was true for Master-level battles, albeit to a lesser degree. Martial Masters could not afford to fight at the border as that would undoubtedly spread harm in the Kandrian Empire due to the sheer amount of power that Masters were still capable of outputting.

Thus, both Realms of combat would occur in separate regions far away from the Kandrian Empire.

That was why they could not afford to wait for the deep strike force to actually reach the Kandrian border.

STEP

Rui arrived at the military dispatch facility at the border, immediately heading to meet his fellow Masters.

He didn’t fail to miss the nigh endless Apocalypse-class and Calamity-class siege weapons and heavy artillery that were being mounted on the walls of the fort.

As soon as the deep strike force entered the firing range of the border, they would immediately be bombarded with devastatingly catastrophic attacks that would alter the topography of the entire region.

“We of the Master Realm will be intercepting them about a thousand kilometers from the Kandrian Empire,” Master Sera began as she addressed the many Masters gathered in the base. “Let me remind all of you that our goal is not to win battles, no. Our goal is to ensure that none of them get past us and reach the Kandrian Empire.”

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