The Martial Unity

The world had paid close attention to the Shionel Confederation in anticipation of the attack from the enemy alliance.

Now that it had become an ally to the Kandrian Empire, there was no doubt that it would be attacked continuously. Many nations in and outside of East Panama had sent scouts and redirected long-range surveillance to the battles that would undoubtedly ensue. Many private organizations, intelligence and others alike, had also made sure to keep an eye on the battle from afar.

The intel that they had gained from the battle served as data to further analyze the war with even greater accuracy, allowing affected parties to make better decisions regarding the war.

In hindsight, every single party that had taken the effort to collect some intelligence of the Shionel-EPTA Battle II was absolutely glad that they had.

The outcome was almost difficult to parse.

The Shionel Confederation had deployed a single Master this time as well.

The East Panamic Treaty Alliance had deployed one hundred.

And yet, somehow, by means that not a single person understood, the Dawnbringer not also successfully held off the hundred Masters of the alliance, but had managed to cull their numbers significantly and pushed back the rest.

In comparison, the Sage-level battle had gone rather mundanely with a clash lasting some time before the alliance Sages had eventually retreated after learning of the shocking defeat of their own Masters at the hands of a single Master.

The highest echelons of human civilization were thoroughly shocked by the outcome of the Master-level battle.

It was as though the Kandrian Empire had just gained an additional hundred Masters in its roster.

Everybody was already aware that the Void Prince was a special Martial Artist, but none of them were able to parse or understand just how a single Martial Master could fight a hundred of his peers in battle and emerge victorious.

Never before had the peak of a Realm appeared this much superior to those below!

It sent ripples across the entire Martial World. While Rui’s mass breakthrough triggering ability was most impactful in the political sphere, his feat of overcoming a hundred Masters shocked other Martial Artists in the higher Realms.

Each and every one of them sought to know exactly how he had done it.

Some speculated that he used the forbidden technique that had gotten him exiled from the Panamic Martial Federation.

Others said that he had received help.

However, the truth was that Martial Masters seemed to freeze in his vicinity inexplicably. Many organizations and nations speculated that he had mastered some kind of poison technique that allowed him to paralyze his enemies easily and effortlessly.

Regardless of how he had done it, what mattered most was that he had achieved it.

This outcome single-handedly changed the considerations that many undecided potential allies had when considering which side they ought to ally with.

If the Void Prince alone was enough to reinforce the Shionel Confederation as far as the Master Realm went despite the best efforts of the East Panamic Treaty Alliance, then the Kandrian Empire could redirect their nearly two hundred Martial Masters elsewhere. That would allow them to hold back the deep strike enemy Masters from reaching anywhere near the heartland of their respective empires.

Nobody had been worried that the East Panamic Treaty Alliance would send all its Martial Sages in order to overwhelm Masters-that would simply escalate the conflict into an all out Sage-level war that the alliance didn’t have the numbers to win without bleeding to death themselves.

“…Unbelievable.” Guildmaster Bradt read through the reports that his own Masters had supplied him with. “To think that he was this strong.”

The guildmaster was aware that Rui was strong, but he hadn’t had a clue that Rui’s intentions hadn’t been to merely stall, but to domineeringly win. Not so much as a single brick belonging to the Shionel Confederation had been harmed this time around.

The previous results that Rui had achieved were tainted by the intervention of a brand-new Sage, but this battle was something accomplished by Rui alone.

He understood the political ramifications more than anybody. If there were a few undecided potential allies that had been leaning towards the Kandrian Empire, they might very well have chosen to go with the Kandrian Empire after the results of this battle.

“The Emperor of Harmony has increased his credibility when it comes to his promises of protection,” Guildmaster Bradt realized. “His promises of protecting other nations is extremely realistic given that he has a quasi-Sage level asset protecting nations from Masters who are the ones that actually cause harm to targets.”

In other words, the credibility, trust, and reliability of the Kandrian Empire to be able to protect its allies had more or less bounced back after the fiasco of the previous battle. On top of that, considering that the Kandrian Empire was extremely generous and good-faith in its support and aid to the Shionel Confederation, not a single nation had any doubts that the Kandrian Empire would live up to its words.

“Now these nations just need to grow the balls and overcome the instinctual fear and terror they have of making an enemy of three Sage-level powerhouses,” Guildmaster Bradt mused to himself. “As long as the Void Prince does not die in battle, there is almost no chance that this will change. As long as he lives and continues performing as he has, and continues providing breakthroughs as he has… the Kandrian Empire might start winning this war.” He didn’t see too many options for the enemy alliance despite the powerful stick that it wielded to bully the enemy allies with. The offer of protection and the credibility and trustworthiness of the promises of carrots were starting to snowball into a great advantage after the Kandrian Empire had successfully bagged the Shionel Confederation as an ally.

“Ah… I suppose there is one possibility that could lead to the defeat of the Kandrian Empire,” the guildmaster shrewdly noted. “If their credibility and trust are undermined, then they will lose this war without a doubt, but…”

He shook his head. “One would need something astronomical to undermine trust and credibility in the Kandrian Empire considering the track record of the Emperor of Harmony. I was silly for even considering this possibility.”

He blissfully marked it off as impossible before continuing to read about the aftermath of the battle.