The Martial Unity

Rui slept for more than a whole day after that. Perhaps it was because this nation and its shenanigans exhausted him more than any other nation prior. Regardless, he found himself drained in spirit more than he was physically drained.

He slept for more than twenty-four hours, simply letting his mind recuperate.

The Blood of Solaris accelerated his energy replenishment massively, but it could not accelerate the recuperation of the brain after experiencing strain from the Martial Mind and the Megamind technique.

Thus, Rui truly spent his time sleeping well and deep until his mind and brain had fully recuperated from the strain.

When he woke up, he found Amare sleeping soundly by his side. She was anything but an elegant sleeping beauty, with her limbs stretched across the entire bed, her long brown hair in a mess across her entire pillow, and her light, soft snores drawing an amused, wry smile on Rui’s face.

He simply woke up, feeling much more refreshed and clear-headed after a good long sleep to rest his exhausted self.

He also felt more determined to see this nation through to firmly joining the Solution of Harmony no matter what he had to do. “If I’ve come this far, I should see it through to the end.”

He was thinking of not just the progress he had made in the Virodhabhasa Theocracy but also the progress he had made in all nations prior. All of it could essentially have been for naught if he failed.

The stakes only grew higher and higher.

And yet, he didn’t immediately rush to Mt. Virodha to speak with the Transcendent Prophet.

He wouldn’t go just like that. Not before he gained some clarity on the matter.

And thus, while he refreshed himself after a long sleeping session, he immersed himself in thought while he bathed and ate.

The Transcendent Prophet.

Known as the Astral Sovereign. Going through the existing literature on the Martial Transcendent was something that Rui considered but ultimately dismissed.

Most of it was from before he reached Transcendence a hundred and fifty years ago. It was so long ago, and from a Realm below, that he didn’t think it was wise to rely on such outdated data.

He considered the merit of interrogating those who have conversed with the Transcendent Prophet but ultimately decided against it. Very few had maintained a conversation with the Transcendent Prophet for any extended period of time. It was too unlikely to yield anything useful to waste his time pursuing, especially when he was relying on secondhand information that wasn’t even recorded.

Ultimately, he had to figure out how he wanted to approach this. “The desired outcome is to earn his ‘acknowledgment.’”

That meant either tricking him into thinking that he truly was the Antithesis that the man himself had prophesized.

Or, it meant getting his approval nonetheless, for the sake of the world. Of the two of these possibilities, Rui only found the latter to be pragmatic.

In the past, Rui wasn’t sure if Transcendents even cared about the world anymore, but after Transcendent Emperor Arthur himself intervened to crush a singularity that dozens of Sages had created with their total power to protect the world, he suspected that they probably did.

If that was the case and if that was true for the Transcendent Prophet, then there was a chance that he would be able to appeal to his rational side, if he had any, that he needed to recognize Rui as the Antithesis.

Based on Amare’s recounting of what had happened with Shield of Gaia, it became somewhat evident that they could be reasoned with. Thus, Rui held out the hope that he would be able to convince this fellow to give him his ‘acknowledgment’ even if he knew that Rui wasn’t the Antithesis.

He considered the possibility of him deceiving a Martial Artist who was two Realms above him, and he simply didn’t see the possibility that he would be able to effectively deceive someone that much more powerful than him.

A Martial Artist’s insight and perception increased tremendously with each Realm. A Transcendent could probably perceive both reality and people on a level unheard of before. This wasn’t just an empty guess. He had evidence in favor of this claim.

Amare told him about how the Shield of Gaia had identified not only that she had memories sealed inside her but also recognized the identity of the memories with just a single glance without any visible Realm of power active. Bodhisattva Maitreyi, on the other hand, had known Amare her entire life and only realized she had memories of the Progenitor sealed within her through her Embodiment, not due to her own perception.

This was the same woman who had seen through Rui’s identity crisis at first glance.

It showed just what supremely perceptive beings Transcendents were. On top of that, the Transcendent Prophet’s Martial Art specialized in the mind. How on earth was Rui supposed to deceive such a person with his paltry tricks?

Thus, he ultimately decided that honesty was the best policy. If he could have gotten away with deception, he would have chosen to, but unfortunately, he couldn’t. Thus, his strategy was just to fess up and explain that he had been tricking the entire Virodhabhasa Theocracy.

He would apologize for pretending to be the Antithesis and for using the Transcendent’s religion but explain that he simply didn’t have any other choice but to, because without this, human civilization would be eradicated.

“I don’t know how in touch he has been regarding the events of Era of Dawn, either…” Rui muttered with an uncertain expression. “Surely he knows about the Solution of Harmony, right?”

He briefly considered contacting the Beggar Sage but ultimately decided not to. While the Beggar Sage was approaching a level of nigh omniscience in regard to matters pertaining to the Human Domain, his knowledge was limited to where human beings were. Martial Transcendents were among the few who were beyond his reach.

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