The Martial Unity

As humanity made the final preparations for the Solution of Harmony, Rui finally returned home, happening upon a nation that was absorbed in its preparations for the departure of the Martial Sages.

He could sense the Martial Masters and Sages completely absorbed in their final preparations, many of whom were within the manifold, trying to squeeze as much of their remaining time as possible. And yet, his return to the Kandrian Empire was far from unnoticed.

WHOOSH

A Sage descended from the sky, grinning at Rui with an enthusiastic smile. His green hair was shorter than Rui remembered while his visage had grown older than when they last met.

“Not gonna lie, I knew your breakthrough to the Sage Realm was gonna be special but man…” Kane grinned, “it was the craziest thing I have ever seen.”

Had it been anyone else, Rui would not have been inclined to bring himself to smile.

And yet, it was Kane.

A small, but sincere smile cracked at the edge of his mouth. “Kane.”

“Bring it in, man.”

The two exchanged a bear hug, having seen each other after many years. “Belated congratulations on your breakthrough,” Rui’s tone was calm and composed. “I was surprised to hear the news of your breakthrough to the Sage Realm, I must admit. But you were always closer to the Sage Realm than I was.”

It was more like literally all Martial Masters in the world were closer to the Sage Realm than he was when he first broke through to the Master Realm and was left in an absolute mess of emotions.

“Yeah, I had a feeling that I had a chance,” Kane smirked, “I was especially determined not to rely on your help to get to the Sage Realm.”

Rui had broken him through to the Senior Realm and had helped him break through to the Master Realm as well. That must have surely weighed on Kane even if he wasn’t particularly depressed by the fact. It was always good to know that one could have accomplished a certain feat or achievement by one’s self.

“Besides, it’s not like you took forever either,” Kane directed an incredulous glance at Rui. “Like, you broke the old record before me. In fact, if not for the fact that you spent seven years in the manifold grinding away like a madman, you might have beaten me as well in terms of biological age.”

Rui shook his head. “No, the time I spent in there was an invaluable contributor to my eventual breakthrough to the Sage Realm.”

The Forge of Creation had come through to save Rui so many times that it wasn’t even funny. Rui would have died a long time ago if it weren’t for this extraordinary technique system that had come to his rescue so many times.

“Besides,” Rui continued. “Internationally, at least, the breakthough records have lost all meaning.”

The Panamic Martial Federation had halted all breakthrough record verification and recognition ever since Rui’s breakthrough ability and the manifold were discovered. These two variables completely shattered the existing paradigms and tainted all future breakthroughs.

Did it really count if Rui broke the youngest Martial Senior through?

Did it count if a fellow just spent a year in the manifold to emerged as the youngest Martial Artist of any given rank?

Given that the Kandrian Empire controlled both of these priceless resources, the Panamic Martial Federation had decided to completely suspend this little record keeping and recognition system.

Thus, internationally, the prestige of being the youngest Martial Sage was muted because nobody knew how old he actually was and how much time he had spent in the manifold or what other kind of magic the Kandrian Empire was cheating with. “It’s fine,” Kane shrugged. “I don’t really care about that stuff, it’s not what I pursued my Martial Path. More importantly…”

He turned towards Rui with a mischievous smile. “You gonna tell me about her or what?”

A chuckle escaped Rui as he felt refreshed.

The topic of Amare normally would have been absolutely unapproachable to him at the moment, having just returned to the Kandrian Empire after confirming that the Psycher couldn’t have healed her by himself.

And yet, Kane had a way of making everything feel like it would be just alright.

“She was… special.”

Rui began as he stirred in thought.

He began narrating the story of how he met her, how they had fought, their travels across human civilization and what had eventually happened. He told him about what she was like and what kind of person she was, smiling as he described her profound wisdom and her profound naivety “She sounds like she would be fun and a pain in the ass to be around,” Kane remarked with a completely earnest tone. “Still, she’s into celibacy, huh? That’s some tough luck man.”

Kane laughed at his expense while Rui simply shook his head with a wry smile. “Just tell her that if everything is Martial Art, then so is sex. Problem solved.”

He laughed even harder, earning a soft chuckle from Rui. “Still…” Kane’s tone grew a little serious, “this whole Progenitor business is shocking. I didn’t even know that a single person had spread Martial Art across the entire continent. And to think that person’s memories are sealed in her mind. But what’s even more shocking is that you managed to bring her back from the dead, when I heard it from my dad and the others, I was literally shocked. You…”

He turned to Rui with a sincere smile, “you must really love her. Good for you. I thought you were going to die alone.”

Rui huffed. “Not the nicest of thoughts.”

“Hey, don’t blame me. Blame yourself for being so obsessed with Project Water and being so absurdly overpowered,” Kane scoffed. “It’s no wonder that the one woman you fall in love with is basically the reincarnated Progenitor of all Martial Art.”

Rui turned towards him with furrowed eyebrows. “What about you? Finally, quit dragging your feet when it comes to Fae? About damn time. I have been watching you two disguise flirting as fighting since the academy days.”

“Oh give me a break, we didn’t flirt.”

“You’re either in denial or in delusion. But I have all those memories stored in my Mind Palace, if you want, I can broadcast it to the entire continent—”

“Ok chill!”

The two of them bantered for a long time upon Rui’s arrival as Rui found respite from his sorrow in a conversation with his best friend.

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