The Martial Unity

2864  Impatient

News of Rui’s recovery spread throughout the entirety of the Kandrian Empire.

Throughout the entire world.

Once more, the world rejoiced for his recovery.

The Kandrian Empire was especially enthusiastic in the way that they celebrated, returning celebrations with the magnitude of the Day of Dawn.

The upper echelons of the Empire, however, were engrossed in the story that Rui proceeded to graciously tell them. His audience was comprised beyond just the Emperor of Harmony, it was comprised of the highest echelons of the Martial Union and several other important dignitaries. Each and every single one of them was dying to understand how a diplomatic visit to the Gu had ended up with the destruction of the Gu.

It was such an unfathomable a turn of events that not a single one of them had even the faintest idea how it could have possibly happened.

The air in the conference hall was intense.

It was intense as a number of gazes converged on him. “The Demon of Asmodeous…” A faint whisper escaped Rui, “never intended to participate in the Solution of Harmony. He was… different. He was different from any other leader that I had ever spoken with. Cooperation wasn’t even on the table. He simply did not care. It wasn’t a matter of incentives or deterrents or any other strategic concern that I have run into in the past. No, that man…”

Rui’s eyes sharpened. “He just wanted to consume the entire world. The Gu, both the place and the poison, he sought to expand it, to consume the entire continent. The entire planet. He wanted to use the entire biosphere as fuel for his rise to the Transcendent Realm.”

The air boiled with peril.

The tension in the atmosphere heightened tumultuously as each and every single individual in the room realized just what manner of threat the Gu represented this entire time.

“He poisoned me because he knew that I had the power to raise humanity from the Era of Darkness,” Rui continued with a severe tone. “He wanted to eliminate me then and there and would have had I not been saved by Amare and Bodhisattva Maitreyi.”

They listened closely as he detailed what had happened along with his afterthoughts on it.

“In hindsight…” Rui’s dark eyes grew hazy with thought. “Even his somewhat not-uncooperative engagement in the Human Summit several years ago was a facade. He simply played along because he knew that I wouldn’t visit the Gu if not for some hope of success based on his attitude in the Human Summit.”

Rui’s eyes grew intense with a profound sense of hatred for the dead Demon. “He… probably always planned to eventually consume the world with his Gu poison. However, before the Beast Incursion, he most likely realized that he needed to wait to bide his time because if the world found out what he was doing, he would have to face the wrath of the entire world all at once.”

It made sense as to why the Gu laid low for so long, never once provoking a battle with anybody unless they attacked first.

“He probably killed all the twenty-one Martial Sages in the Gu because he no longer needed them to withstand the pressure from the entire world with the Beast Incursion drawing everyone’s power,” Rui mused with a hint of bitterness. “He killed them to further his cultivation. I suspect each time he kills, and each time he kills someone powerful, his Gu poison grows stronger.”

It would explain why he killed off so many powerful assets in the blink of an eye instead of just targeting Rui alone.

“He probably intended to commence his plan immediately until…” Rui’s tone grew perilous, “until he realized that my solutions could impede his plan. Until he realized that the Solution of Harmony could ruin his plans.”

It wasn’t like he could destroy the Solution of Harmony itself. “However, he probably realized that he could destroy one of the most cornerstones of the Solution of Harmony… which was me,” Rui’s expression crumpled with grave severity. “He must have waited the entire time, making all the preparations for his plan to expand the Gu upon the entire world. He prepared for the inevitable war between the Kandrian Empire and the Gu and planned to use that war to destabilize the entire world and destroy the Solution of Harmony while spreading his poison across the entire continent.”

It was a horrifying plan.

Not a single Martial Sage or high-ranking governmental official could maintain their composure.

Not even the Emperor of Harmony could stop his expression from crumbling with grave seriousness as the sheer gravity of the circumstances far exceeded his wildest expectations. He had not, in his wildest dreams, expected that the Gu was such an extraordinary threat to the very fabric of human civilization.

“Most likely, his plan would have succeeded if not for…” Rui’s expression grew sorrowful, “…if not for Amare. Without her stepping in to intervene and without her death alerting Bodhisattva Maitreyi… this world would have been doomed to destruction. It would have been doomed to death.”

It was then that the sheer weight of all that had transpired had fully dawned on them. It exceeded their wildest imagination.

“She is the reason that we are all still alive and consumed by hellhole so nightmarish that it makes the Beast Incursion look like a walk in the park,” Rui’s dark eyes grew perilously intense. “I will not delay her treatment any longer. I have communicated this much out of obligation and prudence but…”

He stood up. “This meeting is now over.”

WHOOSH

Just like that, he was gone, having returned to the medical facility that currently oversaw her condition.

“Amare…” A whisper of love, care, and affection emerged from him as he beheld her floating form. “You won’t have to wait any longer.”

CRACK CRACK CRACK

He extracted her body from the medical container with force, before disappearing in the blink of an eye.

WHOOSH!

He surged towards the Esocline Federation at top speed with an indomitable determination.

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