The Martial Unity

Once he was done checking up on his family, he immediately headed back to the border to partake in the third shift for the day. He still had to fulfill his part of the deal and impart the Tree of Life in order for Ieyasu to train him for Project Forge.

STEP He arrived before a large group of Masters who were getting ready for the third shift at the dispatch base at the border.

“Rui.” Kane emerged from them with a look of relief on his face. “Man, I’m glad to finally see you. It’s been a crazy two days!”

Rui was inclined to agree. The past two days felt like two weeks by themselves, so much so that it was easy to forget that less than forty-eight hours had passed since the inception of the Beast Incursion. So much had happened that Rui had been unable to get the time to speak with anybody including his father or his best friend.

“Kane, I didn’t know you were a part of the third shift. That’s good. Let’s fight together.” He nodded. “Are you sure you can fight?” Kane peered at him. “You just woke up two days ago and then you pushed yourself in your first shift against the beasts and monsters. Hell, if you’ve already completed your shift, why are you fighting at all?”

Rui glanced at Ieyasu who silently prepped himself in the corner. “I made a deal with him. I’m going to show him the Tree of Life in exchange for his contributions to my latest Martial project.”

Rui proceeded to explain the project to Kane, who grew almost as excited as Rui himself was. “Creating brand-new techniques on the fly to adaptively evolve to your opponent is crazy!” Kane exclaimed. “Man, you’re going to be on a whole other level!”

“That’s the hope,” Rui agreed. “Your Highness.” A high-grade Master approached Rui with a hint of respect. “If you are indeed participating in this battle, would you like to take the lead?”

Rui shook his head. “I’m taking the role of a trainer rather than a proper combatant. My mind won’t be involved with the broader state of affairs. Ieyasu and I will be fighting slightly separately from the rest of the battle.”

“…Understood, Your Highness.”

“Take me as well, I want to be a part of the fun,” Kane complained.

“If you are able to keep up, you can join,” Rui calmly replied. “You won’t be seeing anything new, however.”

Kane had been there when Rui had created the Tree of Life originally in the Garden of Salvation, after all. “Speaking of that,” Kane lowered his voice. “Don’t you think you’re helping him way too much by giving him the Tree of Life? That system of thought is overpowered! He is already strong enough.”

Rui’s smile grew amused at the juvenile concern. “It’s irrelevant. It only aids my ultimate ambition; it doesn’t detract from it. On top of that, if you’re really that concerned about it, the Tree of Life is most relevant against non-Martial Artists. So, it can’t be used against me.”

That was also why he was not unwilling to pass on the quasi-Tree of Life to the rest of the world. There was no way that it could come back to bite his ass or the Kandrian Empire’s ass and ultimately would only benefit them in the long run.

Every nation that fell meant that the Kandrian Empire would suffer more harm. It meant that the Kandrian Empire, along with the rest of human civilization, would need to fight and kill more beasts and monsters than they otherwise had to.

If half of human civilization fell, the Kandrian Empire would suffer twice as much harm, roughly speaking. It was for that reason that he was inclined to contribute the Tree of Life to the taskforce of the Adventurer’s Guild.

“The next shift is about to begin, fall in!” the appointed leader announced. “Remember the shift transfer protocols and make sure that you follow them to the T.”

The air among the Martial Masters grew heavy as this group would be facing the beasts and monsters for the first time. While each of them had tried to prepare themselves fully to deal with an endless tsunami of beasts and monsters, no amount of mental preparation could prepare one for the horrors of the Beast Incursion entirely.

Thankfully, unlike when the third Great East Panamic War had begun, they weren’t unaccustomed to grueling combat any more. After participating in war for nearly a year, they had grown used to high-intensity battles against equally powerful Martial Masters.

However, they had also been thoroughly briefed based on the intelligence collected from the first shift that dealing with the beast tide was a battle of attrition and a challenge of stamina, not combat power. It was not a question of how well you could slaughter beasts and monsters; it was a question of how long you could last doing that.

Thus, most of them needed a shift in mindset to remember to hold back their output and stamina consumption so that they could last as long as possible against the beasts and monsters that were going crazy.

Soon enough, it was time.

“Let’s go.” Instantly, they, along with a shift for each Realm, headed out towards the battlefield in the distance, skywalking through the air as they surged in the direction of their respective battlefields.

And soon enough, they joined the battle.

BOOOOOM BOOOOOM BOOOOOM!!!

The battle began as soon as reinforcements took the pressure off the previous shift which was thoroughly exhausted in battle by now, having fought extensively for a long time.

The Martial Artists in the higher Realm were particularly exhausted as their Hearts and Minds were truly on the verge of shutting down. The moment they were bailed out, they retreated, heading back to the base where they could get some well-deserved rest from the battle.

Meanwhile, Ieyasu and Rui surged into an endless tide of quasi-Sage-level beasts and monsters.

“Watch and learn, kiddo.” Rui smirked, activating Tree of Life as a hint of annoyance appeared in Ieyasu’s eyes.

–