The Martial Unity

The atmosphere in the meeting was tense.

The enemy had played their hand, and they were blessed with aces.

The threat of Rui’s defeat and death and the copying of his Martial Art spelled extremely bad news for the Kandrian Empire.

“Is it possible that we can kill the copycat Master with a hidden Sage waiting in an ambush?” Sage Sera wondered.

Emperor Rael simply shook his head. “It would be possible if the existence of Sage Sayfeel was still a secret, but with all our Sages known, Prime Minister Edward is far too competent and careful with intelligence to give us any room.”

The Sages offered some more possibilities, but each of them was firmly shot down by the erudite analysis of the Emperor of Harmony.

Much of it boiled down to Rui’s unwillingness to leave the frontlines.

If not for that, this problem would have had a very simple fix.

“But Rui will definitely wind up fighting him,” Emperor Rael said as he calmly came to terms with this reality. “There is only one thing to do in that case.”

His eyes narrowed. “He must win.”

The Flickering Elder looked like she wanted to protest, but she was unable to say anything that was worth saying.

Rael had already ironed out the inevitability of this fight beyond any shadow of a doubt.

And if the battle was inevitable, then nobody was in disagreement with the statement that they better win.

“There is too much at stake for any other outcome.”

If Rui lost the battle, he would die after having his Martial Art copied.

They would lose one hundred Masters. This meant that their ability to protect their allies would be down by thirty to forty percent.

That was crippling.

Once they could no longer protect their allies, they would lose their security credibility. Once they lost that, they would not only fail to gain the allyship of the many remaining Sage-level nations, but they would lose existing allies as well!

On top of that, the enemy alliance would be able to sell breakthroughs to gain allies the way that the Kandrian Empire had been doing this entire time, while the latter would have lost that ability.

It didn’t take a genius to figure out how horrific this outcome was for the Kandrian Empire. “…It will mean our total and complete annihilation.” Emperor Rael’s voice was macabre and somber. “He will destroy everything that I have ever built. He will destroy everything we have ever built.”

For the first time in their lives, the Martial Sages sensed a hint of fear from the Emperor of Harmony.

The atmosphere tingled with peril and horror.

The air boiled with reckoning.

A grim and choking silence took over the entire room.

It wrapped its dark hands around their necks, suffocating them.

They felt helpless.

They were the Sages and the Emperor of the most powerful nation in the world.

Yet, they were powerless to have a say in their own fate.

They almost felt the urge to prevent this battle by nabbing Rui and forcefully keeping him at home. Yet, even if they abandoned all their principles and honor and stooped to incredibly low heights, they wouldn’t be able to succeed.

Unfortunately, he had too much power.

Not too much Martial power, no, but he possessed too much leverage.

Unbeknownst to their enemies, Rui had influence over the Divine Doctor and that was the only reason that the man was sharing his medical services and knowledge with the Kandrian Empire. He also possessed ownership over the manifold that was vital to the Kandrian Empire’s future and even the present.

And then there was his breakthrough ability.

It was not an exaggeration to say that he was the third most powerful individual in the Kandrian Empire. Only Emperor Rael and Sage Damian possessed greater political clout than Rui did the former by virtue of the three centuries of political power that he had cultivated and regained and the latter because he was the most powerful non-Transcendent Martial Artist in all of East Panama.

After that, Rui was essentially unrivaled within the Kandrian Empire.

Perhaps if the Emperor of Harmony and the Devil worked together to pressure him from doing what he was going to do, they might be able to get him to reluctantly acquiesce, but Emperor Rael knew that the Devil would never take his side on this particular matter. The man was the most martial Martial Artist the world had ever seen. He would never restrict another Martial Artist from fighting their peers.

Emperor Rael’s sharp mind furiously processed every single possibility, one after another, as he desperately tried to think of a way to prevent this battle, but it was entirely futile.

He couldn’t think of a single way.

No solution existed anyway.

“Well played, Edward.” A whisper escaped Emperor Rael.

He could imagine his old rival’s face beaming with a smug smile.

“This battle is determined to happen.”

Rui could not be stopped.

If he said that he wanted to fight the copycat, nobody could stop him.

And it was because each of them had come to know him well enough that they knew they

could not dissuade him.

It was deeply frustrating, but they had no power over an event that appeared to be

unstoppable.

They had no power over its outcome.

They had no power over its future.

They would have to entrust the future of the Kandrian Empire, the future of East Panama, to

Rui and his destined opponent.

“I need to speak with the Silas Matriarch and foresee the outcome of the battle ahead of time and convey that information to Rui so that he can use it to win.”

However, he highly doubted that he would be able to get Rui to listen to reason here either. He knew that Rui would risk death if it meant reaching the Sage Realm.

“He must win this battle. He must win at all costs.”

The war rapidly converged into a nexus that would define the future of East Panama.