The Martial Unity

Rui understood what the Esoterist wanted from him. The man wanted Rui to apply his breakthroughs to the MECHA Martial Artists of the Esocline Federation and potentially raise the first MECHA Martial Master.

“…It feels like just yesterday when you announced MECHA Martial Art to the entire world,” Rui mused with a stoic tone. “Time truly flies.”

“It certainly does when you have a space-time manifold within which time literally flies,” the Esoterist smiled. “I have waited for this day for a long time. When the first MECHA Martial Artist of the Upper Realms appears, the world will have no choice but to take my MECHA Martial Art even more seriously!”

Rui gazed at the excited inventor with a skeptical gaze. “Your invention will strengthen Martial Art tremendously.”

“Of course it will!”

“It will also cripple Martial Artists and their autonomy,” Rui brutally added. “Shackled to their machines, they will be easier to control than ever before. They will thoroughly fall under the control of the state and of human civilization. It will cripple agency more than ever before, reducing them to cogs of a machine.”

The Esoterist smile eerily. “…I like machines.”

Rui narrowed his eyes. “You… you never gave up on your ambition to defeat to Martial Art with technology, did you?”

The air grew heavy.

The atmosphere grew taut with tension as Rui gazed deep into the Esoterist’s eyes.

“From the very start,” Rui continued. “Your goal was always to cripple Martial Art with technology. Even though it would increase their combat power astronomically, it would allow for them to be dominated more easily outside of combat. You knew you could never defeat Martial Art in the battlefield. That was why you decided to defeat them off the battlefield.”

The Psycher’s blind eyes shifted towards the Esoterist with a hint of curiosity.

“By crippling their agency outside of battle, you could effectively create a circumstances where Martial Art would slowly be overtaken by technology,” Rui replied. “By enlargening the role of technology in Martial Art, you could create avenues to cripple Martial Artists on and off the battlefield. Even though their net combat power would increase, their liabilities would increase even more.”

The greater the liabilities that afflicted Martial Artists, the less their political power. The less their political power, the less they would be able to shape civilization and draw resources from it for their own power.

Technology would gain supremacy and would become the driver of human civilization, instead of Martial Arts.

He would effectively be feeding Martial Art a poisoned apple.

The Esoterist knew that he wouldn’t be able to defeat Martial Art on the battlefield. Martial Art was specialized for combat. Technology on the other hand was general and all-affecting.

The Esoterist’s smile was dark. “It is truly a shame that someone with your mind chose to become a Martial Artist. The Martial World doesn’t deserve you. If you ever consider changing your career and abandoning this Martial Art nonsense, you can join the Esocline Federation. I will make you vice president in a heartbeat.”

Rui huffed lightly. “Tempting, but I will pass.”

“Shame,” the Esoterist’s cold smile deepened. “What do you intend to do with these insights? Spread them to the world. Warn others of the consequences?”

Rui shrugged lightly. “Nothing.”

“…Nothing?”

“Nothing.”

The Esoterist furrowed his eyebrows. “I must confess, I did not expect that.”

“I have no intention of protecting Martial Art,” Rui replied. “If Martial Art needs protection, then it is unworthy of it. Do not confuse my desire to protect human civilization as the desire to protect Martial Artists.”

Besides, he had a personal incentive to watch Martial Artists around the world to adopt MECHAs.

He was already too strong, pound for pound, with each passing Realm, his dominance only grew stronger. His quality as a Martial Artist, when equalized for Realm was unprecedented.

MECHAs, even in their earliest iteration, were also extraordinary in their quality. He knew that if he wanted to continue to face many challenges in the future, he needed to live in a world with MECHA Martial Artists.

“It is unfortunate that it will take too much time for MECHAs to fully disseminate across human civilization,” Rui remarked. “Perhaps I should sleep for several decades. This way, I can essentially meet Amare instantly and enter a world where MECHA has taken a stronghold.”

It was actually not the worst idea in the world. However, he couldn’t afford to waste his life like that when Project Water had yet to be fulfilled.

He shook his head. “I don’t mind imparting my services to you. I am curious to see how strong the first MECHA Martial Master will be. However…”

His gaze returned to Amare, “I want Amare to be taken care of.”

“Tsk tsk, don’t worry lover boy, we will handle her just fine. You’ll see.”

“I will also need to be sedated when I deal with the price of the Martial Master and Soul,” Rui winced as he felt a headache coming on. “Everything comes after that.”

Soon enough, Amare was transported to a secure facility in the Esocline Federation. Her body was suspended midair in a large chamber that deployed nanotechnology and optical tweezers to commence their anti-aging operations.

Rui, on the other hand, voluntarily went into temporary sedation. He didn’t want to be awake until the consequences of the Martial Soul were completely dealt with. The amnesia of identity was truly unpleasant, especially when he had many unpleasant memories surrounding his memories and identity.

FSSSS…

A chamber shut tight, Rui’s eyes closed, falling to sleep as powerful drugs ran through his body.

“…What do you think?” The Esoterist asked the Psycher as they watched the Dawnbringer rest. “…He exceeded my expectations,” the Psycher remarked. “When the Beggar Sage told me about his condition. I must admit, I was surprised to hear that there existed an inheritor we didn’t create. However, I was beyond shocked when he broke through to the Sage Realm.”

His eyes lit up with greed. “I have finally gotten my hands on the solution to the curse, I have no intention of letting it out of my sights.”

–