The Martial Unity

And thus, they departed from the Nest of Terra in haste, rushing away from it in a hurry. Rui wasn’t too worried about being chased down by the Nest of Terra.

He was sure that his father would learn about what had happened very soon, and there was no way that he wouldn’t take action after having already issued a very stern warning to the Nest of Terra.

He looked forward to learning about what was surely going to happen to the Nest of Terra when the time came. “It’s a shame that such a wonderful nation became our enemy,” Amare mused with a tinge of melancholy. “I promised the Shield of Gaia that I would come back and reminisce.”

“You can still do that if he’s under the Nest of Terra as opposed to inside it,” Rui pointed out. “You will have to get stronger.”

“That I have,” she patted her bicep in an enthusiastic gesture. “I learned a new dance, after all.”

Rui smiled wryly. “You have the most convenient form of training. I can’t imagine how strong all of us would be if we, too, could learn to train while simply going about living our lives.”

“You can!” Amare enthusiastically told him.

“Not as good as you can.” Rui shook his head. “Though, if I remember correctly, the best way to learn from someone and inherit their ways was…”

“Love!”

“Right…” Rui smiled wryly. He did intend to try and learn her means of growth, but it was a slow process. It wasn’t something that he could gain all of a sudden. In the first place, he wasn’t even sure if this was something he could inherit at all. It was certainly the case that, at the center of her ability to harness everything in Martial Art was an extraordinary talent that allowed her to extract the most out of every experience she lived.

“So, what is our next target?” Amare cheerily asked.

Rui’s expression darkened. “The Virodhabhasa Theocracy.”

Perhaps she detected the change in his mood.

“…You don’t like the Virodhabhasa Theocracy?” She raised an eyebrow. “I do not.” His reply was simple.

Of course, his feelings on the nation weren’t nearly as simple.

He resented the nation, detested its religious fundamentalism, and also feared it for its religious irrationality and its irrationality towards him.

Even many years after her death, Master Uma and her theological obsession with him was still fresh in his mind. He really detested her from the bottom of his heart, yet he knew that she was hardly the only one of her kind.

There were plenty more freaks like her in the Virodhabhasa Theocracy.

He remembered how dangerous things had gotten the last time he visited as a peak Squire when his breakthrough ability was a secret.

Just a hint of his ability had caused a tremendous amount of pressure to fall upon him. Now, however, his breakthrough ability for three Realms was confirmed and public knowledge that even commoners and civilians were aware of.

He couldn’t even begin to imagine what kind of a response he would receive from the Virodhabhasa Theocracy.

“Honestly, I’m half-inclined to ditch this nation.”

Amare turned to him with a surprised expression.

Rui hadn’t even hesitated to visit the Solaris Kingdom, which regarded him as cursed. He hadn’t even hesitated to visit his three former archenemies in East Panama, even though they had once made it their absolute mission to kill him in war.

And yet, he was second-guessing visiting the Virodhabhasa Theocracy?

The reason was simple. Rui could handle enemies and people who hated him. What he found to be disturbing to the depths of his soul were those who worshipped him to the point of wanting to impose their identity on him. He was extremely sensitive about his identity, more sensitive about it than anything else in the world.

Words could not begin to describe how much he reviled people who wanted to mold him in their image.

“We can’t skip any nation.”

Amare’s solemn words broke him of his own immersion.

He gazed at her with a severe expression, heaving a sigh.

“I know.”

It would invalidate all the hard work that he had put in the past two years.

Unless all other nations were participating in his father’s unified Sage-level taskforce, no nation would fully be on board.

The Nest of Terra already had a poor relationship with him at the moment. If they found that their neighbor was not part of the deal, then they would have to worry about the quasi-Transcendent beasts and monsters that would emerge from the Beast Domain in their direction.

The Nest of Terra would surely get caught up in this mess.

That was an incentive for them to retain their Sages.

Thus, in order to ensure that the Nest of Terra didn’t get second thoughts, he would need to make sure that he went to the Virodhabhasa Theocracy.

And yet, he was on edge.

It couldn’t be helped.

All the reasons that have led to him experiencing tremendous pressure under the religious crazies of the Virodhabhasa Theocracy were magnified a hundred times this time around. It was much, much easier for them to be delusional about him if it happened when he was an insignificant Squire.

Not only was his breakthrough ability public knowledge, but he even had his own nascent religion forming as a result of his sheer significance to people in times of despair and fear, causing them to cling to him as a deity who offered them respite.

On top of that, his Martial feats were truly extraordinary.

Additionally, even his ability to break Martial Paths was known since it was the basis that allowed him to break Squires and Seniors to the Senior and Master Realm. So, he feared that he fit some of the parameters of the Virodhabhasa Gospel a bit too much.

“Huff…” He felt his nerves tingled as he heaved a deep sigh. “Whatever, it will be a while before we get there. For now…”

His eyes fell on a village that they had happened on.

“We can take a break there.”

–