The Martial Unity

It was not an exaggeration to say that the past two weeks were the craziest two weeks of Guildmaster Bradt’s life.

Not even the days where he first had usurped the position of guildmaster from his former rival and not even the Shionel Dungeon had been as crazy as the sheer amount of shocking events that happened in the past two weeks.

The battle between Rui and Ieyasu had proven to be one of the most stressful events in his entire life, especially because of the aftermath of that battle with all the Martial Sages that almost destroyed all of human civilization.

Simultaneously during that battle, the Fraud of Harmony investigative report had been published and supplied to every power in all of East Panama, sparking an uproar in the political sphere at what was the single greatest political scandal of all time. Guildmaster Bradt himself had been shaken by the claims of the investigative report and was, understandably, extremely furious when more and more evidence turned up in favor of the report’s findings. He had put his trust in Rui.

He had invested massive sums of capital into Rui.

It was deeply upsetting to learn that Rui had, under Emperor Rael’s command, defrauded him of all of it while pretending to aim for the throne. However, he was a practical man; the doubling of the Martial Artists that Emperor Rael generously offered as reparations was more than worth it.

Yet, those weren’t even the craziest parts of the past two weeks. The world soon beheld a series of mass assassinations which eventually led to the East Panamic Treaty Alliance waging an all-out war to destroy the Kandrian Empire once and for all.

And all of it was irrelevant once the horrifying roar emerging from the depths of the Beast Domain washed over all of human civilization, soon followed by the inception of the Beast Incursion—an apocalypse that could destroy all of human civilization.

In less than a day, the beast tide had already reached the Shionel Confederation.

The sight of the countless beasts and monsters that had appeared on the horizon was horrifying to a nation that was comprised of merchants at its roots.

BOOOOOM BOOOOOM BOOOOOM!!!!!

“ROOOAAARRR!!!”

“KRIIIEEEKKK!!!”

“RAAAWWWRRR!!!”

Monsters and Martial Artists engaged in gruesome and violent battles that would determine the outcome of the Shionel Confederation. Thus far, the Shionel Confederation held out.

A defensive line, led by Sage Sariawar, held off the endless swathes of beasts and monsters while the siege weapons of human civilization inflicted as much damage as it could. If not for the Martial Artists that Rui had already broken through in the nation, they would not have been able to withstand the onslaught of beasts and monsters as well as they did.

Yet, their success was grim, nonetheless.

The very existence of the Beast Incursion was a devastating blow to the export-led economy of the Shionel Confederation. The corporatocracy was fundamentally driven by the exports of the Shionel Confederation to all of East Panama. In other words, they needed to be able to connect to the entire continent if they wanted to thrive. Being stranded in the middle of East Panama with beasts and monsters from all directions was  no different from a death sentence to all these merchants. Without exports, they wouldn’t be able to generate revenue. Without revenue, they wouldn’t be able to maintain their companies and businesses. They wouldn’t be able to employ their workers and employees, which would lead to mass unemployment, which would lead to recessions galore.

As far as Guildmaster Bradt was concerned, this was an even greater catastrophe than the time when they had lost their native Martial Sage. This was a catastrophe that was devastating to the very root of the Shionel Confederation. It was already over. The age of commerce and trade that thrived in the Age of Martial Art would not be able to exist in the age of darkness of the Beast Incursion.

Even if the tides stopped coming, and it didn’t seem like they would, almost irreversible damage had been done. The Human Domain had already become infested with beasts and monsters, and they weren’t going anywhere in the long run.

Even if the Beast Incursion stopped at that very moment, it would take at least a decade to return back to normal, if not multiple decades of exorcizing every last unwanted beast and monster so that traversing the human domain became as safe as it used to be. “Sir Guildmaster, the Emperor of Harmony wishes to speak with you immediately!”

Guildmaster stirred as his chief of staff broke him out of his malaise. “Set the meeting up immediately.”

It wasn’t long before he found himself seated opposite the Emperor of Harmony. “Emperor Rael…”

“We are in an apocalypse, so I will skip out on formalities,” Emperor Rael swiftly began. “We need to restore trade across all of human civilization in an era where land routes have been entirely compromised. My proposal is simple: we go all-out with the seafare trade routes and slowly begin to shift to becoming a seafare-led civilization while we restore order to the Human Domain. Human civilization is not prepared to be isolated as most nations are not mercantile in nature in that they are able to produce all essential goods and services. All nations import essentials, to some extent.”

Even in this apocalyptic desolation, Emperor Rael espoused working to save human civilization. Of course, Guildmaster Bradt was well aware that this was driven more by self-interest than it was altruism. Still, he found it admirable nonetheless. Perhaps all of human civilization would truly be better off with the Kandrian Empire breaking through the Great Limit and becoming the most powerful force in all of human civilization, spreading the principle of harmony across the heart of humanity.

“That doesn’t sound bad at all…” A faint murmur escaped him.

“I’m glad you agree.” Emperor Rael nodded encouragingly. “I will send over a Martial Sage to reinforce the Shionel Confederation to ensure that it doesn’t fall. I’m aware that you have Sage Sariawar, but a single Sage has limits, when her stamina runs out, she won’t be able to return to battle until she has paid the price for her Mind and Soul.”

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