The Martial Unity

2931  Resting Dues

The atmosphere was grim in its silence.

Any quasi-Transcendent beasts and monsters knew their time was up, too tired and outnumbered to be able to resist what was inevitable. SPLAT SPLAT SPLAT!!!

Their deaths were quick.

Every last beast and monster was dead.

The battlefield was beyond scarred.

It was beyond ravaged.

It was thoroughly devastated under the sheer weight of the destructive power of the Martial Sages and their destructive enemies.

The lands were still a white-hot molten lava from the destructive power that has coursed through it while the plasma in the heaven slowly began cooling down, returning to its gaseous state of matter.

The Martial Sages remained where they were for several minutes, collapsing to the ground with exhaustion and their wounds. None of them had managed to come away unscathed from the battle.

Many had failed to come away from the battle with life.

The air grew grim as the Martial Sages of each group began tending to the corpses of the fallen Martial Sages.

The loss of each Martial Sage was painful.

Each Martial Sage generally took more than a century and a half to create. It was difficult, lengthy process of scouting, training, investing, for returns far, far into the future. Each loss left each nation reeling.

And yet, they had succeeded in the achieving one of their two great objectives in the Beast Domain after ten long years.

A tremendous wave of surreality washed over every Martial Sage on the battlefield. They could scarcely bring themselves to believe that they had actually achieved their long-desired objective and mission in the Beast Domain. Their expressions grew euphoric amid the exhaustion.

The moment of realization and victory lingered as many Martial Sages simply sat there, appreciating the sheer gravity of what it is they had actually accomplished. “We have achieved victory.”

Rui’s calm voice reached them all as he trudged across the battlefield.

“We couldn’t have done it without all of you.”

He paused, directing a sweeping gaze across all of them.

“On behalf of humanity…” his tone was profound. “On behalf of the countless innocent men, women, and children… on behalf of all nations in the world, I thank all of you for your noble service in this extraordinary victory for all of human civilization.”

His voice was sincere.

Humanity owed a great debt to the Martial Sages of the world who had fought tirelessly to protect the Human Domain from the devastating power of the quasi-Transcendent beasts and monsters.

Had all of them been allowed to exit the Central Highlands of the Beast Domain, they would have laid waste to all corners of the continent, annihilating the entire continent and all civilization upon it. A final wave of relief, rather than jubilance, washed over all the conscious Martial Sages.

“Let us tend to the dead and to the wounded,” Rui told all of them as he walked towards the gathered Martial Sages of the Kandrian Empire.

They had gathered around the corpse of the Whispering Widower with grim expressions. The Kandrian Empire had just lost its most powerful assassin, depriving it of one of its most useful Sage-level assets.

The sorrowful atmosphere bore heavily on the silence.

Rui gazed at the fallen Martial Sage with a solemn expression.

He had never had the best of relations with this particular Martial Sage, but the loss was as heavy on him as it was for any of them. “…He deserves the highest of honors,” Rui remarked. “He will be commemorated and immortalized in stone forever.”

Soon enough, the Martial Sages slowly began departing from the battlefield as they started heading back to their respective jets, having gathered the dead and tended to the wounded. It wasn’t until after they had placed the corpses in their respective pods and rejuvenated with some food and water that they began writing up their reports to be sent back to the Solution of Harmony task force.

It was a mundane and monotonous set of protocols that they had come to hate over the past ten years, but with the Martial Sages themselves being the sole source of intelligence for the task force, each Martial Sage had to go through the cumbersome process before they were finally able to get the rest they needed.

With the destruction of the quasi-Transcendent beasts and monsters, the burden that they experienced on their shoulders had reduced significantly. With the death and destruction of the beasts and monsters of the Central Highlands, they were no longer in a pressed situation to accomplish their objective as they had been. The quasi-Transcendent beasts and monsters couldn’t be left alone, for they would immediately surge into the Human Domain if they were left to their own devices. That was why the Martial Sages had pushed and pushed continuously for ten years without so much as a single break.

Now, however, the most pressing demand had gone.

They no longer needed to rush, unable to take so much as a small break. They could relax for the first time in a decade.

Of course, the very thought of the second objective crippled any enjoyment that they could derive from it, but at the very least, they didn’t need to rush to get to it. “We have earned our rest and reprieve.”

Rui told the gathered Martial Sages of humanity with a serious expression. “The second objective of culling the Beast That Roared will be undertaken with the luxury of time and preparation.”

His eyes sharpened.

“We will need to be at our very best if we have any hopes of defeating that monster.”

Their expressions grew serious as they tried to comprehend the sheer difficulty of the final task that had been entrusted to them. The sheer peril associated with it was so high that even Martial Sages couldn’t help but feel a mounting sense of dread within their hearts at having to confront the beast at the very epicenter of the Beast Domain.

The fact that they knew its exact location, even at that point, was a faint source of fear in and of itself.

Yet, it was a fear that they would have to confront.

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