The Martial Unity

Rui knew he must have been getting closer to the Sekigahara Confederate after crossing the Zeltic Ocean in the North-East of the continent. He knew he must be getting closer to his first Sage-level powerhouse because the density and the power-level of the beasts and monsters was rising.

The more it rose, the closer he knew he was getting.

And, of course, the more turbulence and resistance he ran into when getting into the Sekigahara Confederate.

“RRROOOAAARRR!!!”

“Muspelheim.”

Rui effortlessly dispatched a Master-level Ice bear atop a blizzard-ridden mountain peak. He deactivated his Martial Mind, walking to the edge of the mountain cliff as he gazed out at the vast expanse of the human civilization and establishment that stretched as far as the eye could see.

Few nations were as large as the Sekigahara Confederate.

“I have arrived…” Rui murmured as his breath turned to fog in the freezing cold climate of the northern parts of the Panama Continent. His gaze shifted to the West where its borders lingered far away in the distance that only his superhuman vision could detect.

He could feel it.

He could feel the battle between Martial Artists and beasts raging an unimaginable distance away, for they would never fight right outside their nation.

The nation was being defended across at least half of its perimeter, requiring Rui to take a bit of a roundabout path to reach the nation without getting involved in the conflict.

WHOOSH

He sky-walked off the cliff, drawing closer and closer to the Sekigahara Confederate. His approach was not missed.

Not by a Sage-level powerhouse.

The Nindo Clan was in charge of surveillance and reconnaissance throughout the day in all directions of the Sekigahara Confederate and Rui didn’t make any efforts to hide his approach. He even made his presence clear and slowly approached the nation, lest they turn one of their Apocalypse-Class siege weapons of mass destruction towards him.

He didn’t dare to directly land in their territory, either. Even if they desperately needed him and even if he was there to help, who knew whether the unauthorized breach of territory would piss off those maniacs who might view it as an affront to them?

Among the three enemy Sage-level powerhouses of East Panama that he was to help, the Sekigahara Confederate was most certainly the most unstable set of fellows. Rui didn’t want to initiate any trigger that could awaken their madness.

STEP

He arrived ten meters away from the closest port of entry.

RUMBLE…

Heaven and earth warped under the sheer weight of the existence of Sage Shinken, the most powerful Sage in all of Sekigahara. His loose yukata fluttered in the air as his narrow eyes

burned holes in Rui with the force of his glare.

“You have come,” he spat.

Rui could hear the displeasure in his tone.

He almost considered threatening to leave, but he knew that the peak Sage of the Sekigahara Confederate would let him leave for he was too proud to beg him to stay.

“You don’t seem very pleased by my arrival,” Rui calmly remarked. “Even though you know that I’m here to help you from the predicament.”

“We are in this predicament because of you,” the powerful Martial Sage growled.

It was as though the very world around him shared his rage, shuddering with fury.

Such was the power of a peak Martial Sage.

“Hey, don’t blame me, blame Kane.” Rui shrugged as he shamelessly deflected all the blame to his best friend. “He was the one who killed all your Masters after the battle.”

“You were the one who broke him through!” Sage Shinken snarled.

“And now I’ll do the same for all your Seniors,” Rui replied in a composed tone. “Or those that have formed their nascent Martial Minds, anyway.”

Sage Shinken glared daggers at Rui with gritted teeth.

“Look.” Rui heaved a sigh. “If you’re going to lose your temper and kill me. Can you get it over with quickly? I don’t like having my time wasted.”

The provocation was not well-received.

“I am itching to kill you with every ounce of my Body, I promise you,” the peak Sage growled. “But you will not die, Dawnbringer. Not today.”

There was a hidden threat that lurked in the undertones.

But Rui simply shrugged it off.

Perhaps ever since Master Ceeran had told him of the dying method to reach the Sage Realm, his threshold of risk taking had been lowered tremendously, but he didn’t care what the Sage’s intentions were.

His calm in the face of a circumstance where he was most certainly helpless was surprising even to him.

But he just felt like he couldn’t be bothered.

What would happen would happen.

“Come.” Sage Shinken turned his back as he headed back to Sekigahara Confederate. “The clan leaders wish to speak with you.”

Rui simply followed him as they sky-walked past the border and above Sekigahara.

Rui’s eyes lit up with interest as he came across an entirely foreign and different culture unlike anything he had seen before.

The men and women in the streets of Sekigahara wore thick multl-layered yukatas to keep them warm in the cold. Even the styles of the buildings and homes were very different from what he was familiar with back home in the Kandrian Empire.

The entire nation, from the roofs to the streets, was covered in snow.

Facing the Beast Incursion in such a climate was anything but pleasant.

And yet, the morale amidst the people wasn’t as low as Rui had expected. His mind sense picked up on hope, willpower, and determination emanating among the people of Sekigahara. “Your people are strong…” Rui nodded. “The impression that your nation makes is much better than I expected.”

“We are Sekigaharans,” Sage Shinken snorted. “We fight till our last breath. We fight no matter what. That is why we became a Sage-level powerhouse. That is why we stand at the peak of human civilization. We are not pussies like you Kandrians and your unsightly

harmony.”

Rui smiled wryly as the Sekigaharan puffed his chest proudly at those words. “…I think I might enjoy this more than I expected.”