The Martial Unity

Clearly, the fact that Rui had withstood a full-powered attack and managed to blast him with an enormously powerful attack had borne heavily on him for the past three months. So much so that he had actually spent every single day and night waiting for Rui to wake up so he could interrogate the young Master.

“I demand to know the truth!” he glowered at Rui.

Rui simply stared at him.

He could tell him that the Body of Water was perfectly antithetical to his Omni-Heaven Rend due to the fact that the latter’s power was distributed across the entire surface of his body, which allowed for a hyper-elastic collision that didn’t destroy his body.

He could tell him that the Convergence of Casimir was derived from powerful vacuum energy and an imbalance in quantum pressure.

Or, he could also not tell him any of that. Rui smiled smugly, flipping him the bird. “Figure it out yourself, moron.”

Veins popped on the Martial Sage’s forehead as his eyes grew bloodshot, his hand reached for his greatsword. “I’ll fucking kill yo—”

“Enough.”

Sage Sekiei’s body paralyzed where it stood as the powerful feminine voice of Elder Diana appeared in the room.

STEP

She arrived in the room, staring at Sage Sekiei with a cold gaze, sending chills down his spine.

“Leave.”

In the blink of an eye, he disappeared from the room.

She turned to Rui with an impassive gaze.

“You have woken up.”

Rui knitted his eyebrows. “…Yeah, I wasn’t expecting such a rude wake-up greeting though.”

She didn’t bother apologizing for experience.

She was too arrogant for that. “Since I am here, I might as well as you what has happened while you were recuperating from your battle,” she told him unceremoniously. “For one, we have officially partaken in the Solution of Harmony.”

Rui raised an eyebrow.

“That was part of the wager,” she continued. “A draw would mean that we partake in the Solution of Harmony while you impart to us your gifts. We have already fulfilled our end of the bargain, and now, I expect you to live up to your end of the deal.”

Her eyes narrowed. “We will not be letting you go until you do.”

Rui heaved a tired sigh. “This should have been what happened in the first place if you people had even the slightest bit of sense. But unfortunately, I have learned the hard way that most powerhouses have a screw loose.”

“I do not want to be lectured on sanity by a Martial Master who challenged a Martial Sage,” Elder Diana huffed. “Regardless, we will have you fulfill your end of the deal immediately.”

“Of course,” Rui replied. “I’m surprised that you have agreed to the deal so swiftly.”

“…We do not delay the inevitable,” she replied. “Additionally, a certain event has occurred while you were asleep that hastened our decision.”

Rui raised an eyebrow. “Event?”

The air grew solemn as both Amare and elder Diana grew more severe.

Elder Diana’s eyes narrowed. “A quasi-Transcendent monster emerged from the Beast Domain.”

Rui shook where he sat as his eyes widened with shock.

The faintest of whispers escaped him. “What… what did you just say?”

“The Abyssal Dragon Dionaryion emerged from Beast Domain and entered East Panama,” Elder Diana patiently repeated herself. “It unleashed tremendous destruction across East Panama, killing an estimate of five hundred million human beings across East Panama and destroyed countless smaller and weaker kingdoms with a tremendous wave of seismic destruction. Of course…”

She breathed deeply.

“All of this happened within the first twenty seconds of its emergence.”

Rui stared at her with horror. “There has been civil damage across all of East Panama, most intensely to the nations closest to the Beast Domain that don’t have Martial Sages,” she explained with a heavy tone. “The progress that East Panama had made has not only stalled but also been set in a regress as the Beast Incursion has gained an advantage amid all the chaos born from the destruction.”

His expression grew graver as she closed her eyes.

“This was just one quasi-Transcendent monster.”

Her words sent chills across his skin.

“But…” a whisper escaped Rui. “This wasn’t supposed to happen. This wasn’t supposed to happen so soon. My grandmother, she…”

“—is not omniscient.” Elder Diana cut him off. “She has yet to reach the peak of the Sage Realm, for one. She has her limits. On top of that, her prophecy was based on the prior information, which was changed after we received her prophecy and adjusted our timelines to her predictions.”

That realization had already washed over Rui. “I… I did take it a little easy because I thought I had five years. Without that prophecy, I would not have taken things so lightly. I would not have wasted so much time. I would have gotten things done faster. I could have prevented this if I didn’t fool around on my trips so much.”

A deep sense of regret sunk within Rui as his expression crumbled with grave severity.

“Their blood is on my hands.”

“Rui…” Amare’s hand brushed across his cheek. “How can this possibly be on your fault? I know how hard you worked for humanity. I know how much you have given to this civilization to protect so many people that would be dead without you. You have done more than anybody else for this world. I bear witness to that fact.”

And yet, for once, not even Amare’s wise and warm words were enough to cheer him up.

“She’s right. This is our fault,” Elder Diana’s tone grew uncharacteristically regretful. “And for that, I apologize.”

His eyes widened with shock as the peak Sage lowered her head ever so slightly before him. No more than a few centimeters.

And yet, that alone was more humility than she had ever shown in her long five centuries of life. A gesture that he would have never expected even in his wildest dreams from the endlessly proud and arrogant Elder Diana.

“The reasons you have taken so long is often because of the resistance you have gotten from we Sage-level powerhouses. You would likely have completed your journey already by now if not all that resistance and impedance. Had the Heaven Sect adhered to your offer originally, you would not have wasted three months. You might have been able to get across humanity in time to commence the Solution of Harmony in time to prevent this human calamity.”