The Martial Unity

Rui gazed at Amare with dark eyes.

He couldn’t imagine just how long she would take to recover. He couldn’t imagine how long it would take for her to achieve Enlightenment of Self and discover her Martial Soul. That, too, in the darkness of her mental prison that was surely eating away at her sanity.

“…She will need to decrypt and decompress all the data stored in her subconscious mind regarding Esil’s memories.” Rui’s tone was dark.

“Correct, she will need to decrypt all those memories and understand how they affect who she is,” the Psycher nodded. “Once she has done that, she will have opened up a path to discovering Martial Soul.”

Rui’s dark eyes stirred at those words. “…How will she be able to do that within the darkness of her mental prison?”

In the past, Amare has unsealed her memories by exposing her to environments that would trigger associated memories sealed in her mind. It was the most effective method to slowly unearth her sealed memories from within the depths of her mind.

Now, however, she no longer had access to that solution, for obvious reasons. Unsealing all her memories within the depths of the darkness within her prison would take her an astronomical amount of time. The Psycher smiled. “I’m sure you have sensed it, Dawnbringer. Her mind is not absolutely isolated. There is a tendril of connections between her cerebral cortex and her subconscious mind. She is communicating with her subconscious mind, ever so little. That is enough for her to slowly decrypt her sealed memories in the long run.”

“…A tendril alone has very small bandwidth,” Rui’s tone was chilling. “It will take her an astronomical amount of time until she finally succeeds.”

The Psycher heaved a sigh. “This is the best-case scenario. Dawnbringer. The fact that she is even alive is in and of itself a miracle whose sole credit goes to you and to you only. I would advise you to be grateful that there is even the opportunity for her to return.”

Rui’s expression crumpled with grave severity.

“I’m supposed to be happy that she’s going to go through unfathomable amount of suffering because of my intervention?”

His tone was menacingly intense.

His gaze remained fixed on Amare. “I’m supposed to be happy that I have subjected her to a fate worse than death?”

“…She has probably already learned of what has happened,” the Psycher remarked. “Do you think she would be happy or sad knowing that you overcame Death itself to reunite with her?”

The question left him silent.

The air grew heavy with tension.

Rui simply gazed at Amare with a helpless expression.

He was a Martial Sage.

He was supposed to be extraordinarily powerful.

And he was.

Yet, when it came to helping the woman he loved the most, he was utterly powerless.

He could reverse death, but he couldn’t free her from her mental prison.

He pulled her closer to him, enveloping her in his warm embrace. It was only after he lost her did he realize how much she meant to him. It was only after they were separated that he realized how wonderful their time together was. “Have faith, Dawnbringer.”

The Psycher’s tone was profound. “She is the most well-versed adherent of Genism,” he calmly explained. “A philosophy centered around the Martial Path to Enlightenment. A philosophy that strengthens the psyche by abandoning vice and worldly pleasures. A philosophy that has systematically explored the path to the Sage Realm.”

His blind eyes bore deep into Rui’s. “If there is anyone in this world who is equipped to overcome this hurdle, it is her.”

“…”

For a moment, he was silent.

Then, he opened his eyes to gaze upon her once more.

“Faith…” a faint whisper escaped him. It was a foreign concept to him. And yet, just once.

Just once in his life, he could bring himself to have faith.

To have faith in her. “I have faith that she will return.”

His tone was filled with certainty.

He gazed at her with affectionate eyes. “I will wait for as long as it takes.”

He turned to the Psycher. “You have not been able to return her like I hoped you would. However, you did provide the solution nonetheless. I will be gracious this time and fulfill my end of the bargain nonetheless. However…”

Rui’s eyes sharpened, “I will do so after she awakens.”

He had no intention of fulfilling his end of the deal until Amare woke up. He needed this old immortal sage to be invested in Amare’s return to the real world. The Psycher heaved a sigh. “Very well.”

“Pffft! Hahaha!” the Esoterist had the audacity to laugh at the Psycher despite the tension in the air. “So close, yet so far. Hahaha!”

Rui’s intense gaze shifted to the Esoterist.

“Ah…” the Esoterist smiled friendlily. “I wasn’t trying to make fun of your circumstances. You have my regrets. Tell you what! I have a statis chamber that can halt all aging of any person inside. Why don’t you plop her in there while she does her little shtick?”

Rui stirred at the man’s words.

Indeed, he didn’t want her to age while she was trapped within her mind, essentially losing lots and lots of her real world time. It could be alleviated with life-prolonging potions or even other solutions, but a anti-aging stasis chamber was the most optimal choice.

“…I accept that offer,” Rui’s tone was impassive. “I owe you one, then.”

“In that case, why don’t you humor me with your gifts and abilities?” the Esoterist smiled.

Rui tilted his head with mild intrigue.

“As you have surely seen,” the Esoterist continued with enthusiasm. “We have gained many MECHA Martial Artists in the past five years. In exchange for full support with MECHA technology, your father has graciously allowed us an entire section in the Kandrian Manifold. It has allowed us to multiply our progress rate. We have MECHA novices, Squires, and even Seniors. Plenty for you to apply your breakthroughs to, no?”

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