The Martial Unity

“Any word?” Guildmaster Bradt’s eyes sharpened.

“No sir. The Void Prince is not responding to any of our urgent calls or messages.”

Guildmaster Bradt’s expression darkened at that news. “What about the Emperor of Harmony?”

“His chief of staff has informed us that he is unavailable at the moment.”

“What about the leaders of the Martial Union?”

“They too are non-contactable at the moment.”

Frustration appeared on Guildmaster Bradt’s face.

He was not blind.

He had long noticed that something enormous was brewing under the surface.

Two days ago, all attacks on Kandrian allies had ceased.

At the same time, the Kandrian Empire had withdrawn all its forces from all allies.

Or almost all allies.

The Shionel Confederation was the sole ally from whom not a single Kandrian ally had been called back. On the surface, that might seem like good news, but in reality that was horrible news. The reason that the attacks had ceased happening was because the enemy alliance had decided to, at least temporarily, redirect its forces for a more important objective.

In response, the Kandrian Empire did the same in all places except the Shionel Confederation.

From this, Guildmastee Bradt could deduce that the Kandrian Empire still considered it necessary to protect the Shionel Confederation despite all other allies being deemed safe.

There was only one inference that could be drawn.

“The Shionel Confederation is somehow involved in whatever Martial objective the enemy alliance has.” His expression grew severe. “That is the only reason why the Kandrian Empire has decided to keep the security that we have.”

Yet, that was not the extent of his understanding or his insight. Why would the Shionel Confederation, of all places, be involved with the operation of the enemy alliance?

The only plausible reason was the Dawnbringer, who was currently being hosted by the nation. If not for him, there was no real reason to be singling out the Shionel Confederation at this time.

In other words, the Shionel Confederation could potentially become affected by a storm of unfathomable proportions.

Guildmaster Bradt, along with the rest of East Panama, watched as the Kandrian Empire and the East Panamic Treaty Alliance gathered all their forces within their territory.

Master after Master.

Sage after Sage.

Until all of them were gathered in a single place.

An unfathomable amount of destructive power had gathered in an extraordinarily small place.

And then, they moved.

“Sir, we have just received word that a powerful force of many Sages and Masters has been dispatched from the Kandrian Empire!” his staff hastily informed him. “We have received the official notification of Martial reinforcements from the Kandrian Empire as well. We will be receiving twenty-one Martial Sages and one hundred and eighty Masters!”

Those numbers shook Bradt Patrick where he sat as an expression of pure shock appeared on his normally meticulously composed face.

It appeared that all but four Martial Artists of the Kandrian Empire would be heading over to the Shionel Confederation. That was a truly bewildering proportion of Martial Artists to deploy overseas for a single operation.

“Just…” A faint whisper escaped him. “Just what is happening?”

He wasn’t the only one who was shocked.

Across East Panama, the countless parties watching with bated breaths dropped their jaws when they learned that the Kandrian Empire had deployed an overwhelming majority of its Martial Artists of the Upper Realms in one go, in one direction.

The fact that the Kandrian Empire felt the need to dispatch so many powerful Martial Artists was a chillingly ominous clue as to how impactful the following conflict was going to be. No one knew exactly what the reinforcements were for. Yet, this validated the many fears that many people had regarding the war taking a more destructive and devastating turn that could potentially spread beyond just an enormous battlefield. It was not impossible for the flames of their destruction to spread to the rest of East Panama.

It was surprising how fast the news flew across the eastern segment of the Panama Continent. It showed that countless people and powers were pouring their undivided attention toward this unprecedented mobilization of power.

Yet, just as they were barely recovering from this shock, they were hit with another just a few hours later!

“Sir!” Guildmaster Bradt’s assistant cried. “We have just received word from our intelligence sources that twenty-five Sages and nearly two hundred Martial Masters have been dispatched from the East Panamic Treaty Alliance task force headquarters! They are moving straight towards the Shionel Confederation!”

“Dammit!” Guildmaster Bradt gritted his teeth and clenched his fists with grave eyes. “This is a horrific development!”

The atmosphere in East Panama boiled with tension.

It grew electric with peril.

The nations in the vicinity of the Shionel Confederation each rapidly declared national emergencies, evacuating their citizens and initiating lockdowns. They were rightfully terrified of the devastating impacts of Martial Sages fighting and simply did not have the means to actually protect their citizens from such horrific power should it be directed their way.

If the East Panamic Treaty Alliance was actually targeting the Shionel Confederation to this degree because it was harboring Rui, then Guildmaster Bradt wasn’t sure that the nation could tolerate this level of pressure even with the help of the Kandrian Empire.

“Sir, the Emperor of Harmony has sought a dialogue with you!”

That was exactly what he needed to hear at the moment.

It wasn’t too long before he found himself gazing at the three-dimensional projection of the Emperor of Kandria.

“Emperor Rael…” His eyes narrowed. “Just what is happening…? Just what is all this for?”

The Emperor of Harmony directed a knowing gaze at him. “I’m sure you know exactly what this is about, Guildmaster. The enemies wish to eliminate my son. And they think they have found the optimal candidate. For other reasons I cannot divulge, we have a strategic interest in the outcome of this battle beyond ensuring that the fight isn’t interfered with by other parties. I can understand that you are shaken by the sheer amount of Martial capital being deployed in this single battle, but I can assure you that even if an all-out war occurs, it will happen far away enough from the Shionel Confederation that collateral damage to your nation will be minimized.”

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