The Martial Unity

2948  Everything

In the depths of his Royal Office in the Kandrian Empire, Emperor Rael sharpened his golden eyes with grave severity.

His golden hair was uncharacteristically disheveled.

His table, normally cluttered with scattered documents comprising reports, analyses, and other files, was cleared. A large esoteric artifact sat with its four prongs atop his table and an esoteric crystal at its very center, glowing with power.

BZZZT

The projection of a shattered and broken man appeared opposite the Emperor of Harmony on the other side of his table. He had long flowing, matted hair with a neatly groomed beard, while a loose but ostentatious kimono draped his entire body.

The crest of the Shinken Clan was embroidered on the chest of his attire, comprising of two crossed katanas.

Emperor Rael’s expression grew even more grave as he beheld the broken eyes of the Patriarch of the Shinken Clan.

Gone was the chaffed arrogance and pride.

In its place were regret and despair.

“…Emperor Rael.” The Patriarch’s tone was especially intense, colored by his Sekigaharan accent. “…Patriarch Shinken,” Emperor Rael’s tone was grim.

His golden eyes fixed themselves into the dark eyes of the leader of the most powerful clan of the Sekigahara Confederate.

“Is there any hope?”

Patriarch Shinken’s eyes darkened.

“…None.”

His tone was saturated with grief and regret.

“Our Martial Masters are just barely containing the destruction from reaching me, but eventually, they too will fall and perish,” he laughed mirthlessly. “And I, along with this great nation, will fall.”

Emperor Rael’s eyes grew heavy.

“I see.”

The Patriarch heaved a sigh. “This is all my fault. I alone am responsible for the impending and inevitable destruction of my nation. If it weren’t for my continuous and sustained arrogance and pride, the Sekigahara Confederate would not be here.”

“…That is true,” Emperor Rael firmly affirmed his statement. “You are entirely and solely responsible for the destruction of the Sekigahara Confederate.”

The air darkened.

A dense atmosphere of defeat and despair surrounded the patriarch.

“…Did you call me just to mock me and rub this in my wound?” the man’s tone was mirthless. “No,” Emperor Rael replied, his tone strangely optimistic. “I called to show you this.”

Another projection appeared before him. It was the projection of a device.

A machine.

One armed with a powerful Transcendent esoteric.

The Patriarch’s eyes widened with shock.

His body shook.

It shook as he read the details of the esoteric artifact. “This…! Something like this is possible?!”

“Everything is possible in this vast, magical world,” the Emperor of Harmony replied with a steely tone. “The question is… whether I should use it or not.”

The patriarch’s eyes widened with desperation.

Vigor returned to his body.

A tenacious will to live.

To survive.

To protect his nation and people.

THUD

He fell to his knees.

An action he never thought he would take in his entire life. THUD

His head fell to the floor.

“Please…!”

His tone was desperate.

“Please, save us!”

The Emperor of Harmony’s powerful gaze bore heavy on the Patriarch of the Shinken Clan.

“And what will you give me in return, Patriarch Shinken?”

For a moment, there was silence.

And then, a whisper escaped Patriarch Shinken.

“Everything.”

The Emperor of Harmony’s golden eyes regarded him with a profound gaze before closing.

“Execute Operation Deepsave.”

“Understood, Your Majesty.” Another voice from a different communication artifact replied in an active call. “Executing Operation Deepsave.”

Deep inside the Kandrian Empire, in a top-secret facility unknown to the rest of the nation and even the Martial Union, lay a large artifact.

One that resembled a gate.

It was isolated in a large, sealed chamber surrounded by dense, impenetrable glass that protected a series of scientists and researchers in the Kandrian Empire. In front of the Gate was but one Martial Master.

His eyes and hair were black alike.

He stood there, waiting.

“Activating the World Bridge.” The lead researcher’s projected voice remarked.

VMMM…!!!

The gate roared with power as the artifact came to life.

The very fabric of space and time curved.

It curved and coiled as the artifact stretched and stretched space in a particular direction.

15:23

In the direction of the Sekigahara Confederate.

The Einstein-Rosen Bridge was a hypothetical space-time construct born from one of the solutions of Einstein’s Field Equations. It curved space and time such that one could walk through what was commonly referred to as a portal.

However, it was thought to require a special exotic form of matter known as negative matter; matter with negative mass which was pointedly different from that of regular mass. It was an esoteric matter that was thought to be hypothetical. It played the role of exerting negative gravity to keep the portal open while the bridge formed.

The Transcendent esoteric that comprised the World Bridge Gate brimmed with power as it did just that, pushing the very fabric of space and time apart.

WHOOSH

The very fabric of reality shifted in a shocking manner, revealing an entirely different place that was geographically a great distance away from the Kandrian Empire!

RUMBLE…!

The seismic radiation from the onslaught of Sage-level beasts ravaging the Sekigahara Confederate, barely contained for several minutes by the Martial Masters who themselves were approaching the limit.

The portal widened.

It widened as it opened the entire world to the Sekigahara Confederate.

VMMM….

It stabilized as the fluctuations of the esoteric artifact ceded.

“The World Bridge is stable and open to transit.”

Ieyasu stepped forward, walking through the portal.

One moment, he was in the Kandrian Empire.

The very next?

He had entered the Sekigahara Confederate.

CLASP

He pressed his hand against a black medallion hanging around his chest as he leaped into the air.

WHOOSH

The Abyssal Mirror emerged out of thin air, enveloping his entire body as the pitch-black frame of the sleek MECHA brimmed with power as every plate and component of the powerful MECHA roared with a tremendous amount of power as Ieyasu unleashed his extraordinary power upon the Sage-level beasts and monsters that had already destroyed half of Sekigahara.

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