The Martial Unity

“Where is Rui?!” Amare’s tone was frantic.

The air in the great tusk at the very epicenter of the Nation of Minala was tense as Amare glared at the gathered set of leaders of the Continent of Kiriket. Her body was covered in wounds and bruises, despite her dominant performance; she had gone so overboard in her battle against the converged beasts of the War Coalition that she could singlehandedly make up for the numbers on either side.

The converged beasts gathered in the tusk-like structure that served as the abode of Lord Vakratunda couldn’t help but gaze at her with a wary expression. They knew that she wasn’t a therianthrope, but the fact that a woman could be so powerful was truly stunning to them.

“We are currently searching for him in the depths of the ocean,” Lord Vakratunda told her with a serious tone of voice. “We have deployed patrol teams and all of our aquatic Pasupati Clans led by some of the most trusted members of my clan who will do everything in their power to guarantee his safety. Unfortunately, we haven’t found him yet. I fear that…”

“No.” Amare’s tone was fiercely resolute. “There’s no way. He must still be alive, and he needs our help!”

“We are doing everything in our power to find him,” Lord Vakratunda promised. “The aquatic clans of our continent are some of the powerful people underwater. Lord Matsya, a prominent leader within the Harmonist Faction, is personally conducting the search for Sage Rui. However, the Great Void Ocean is an extremely large environment. And after the recent destruction that their battle has caused, it has become even more difficult to traverse. The destruction that the two of them have unleashed will be more difficult than I ever imagined, and it will not be easy navigating this highly volatile environment.”

The changes brought to the Great Void Ocean were more extreme than anybody in the Harmonist Faction could have imagined. As therianthropes who followed the Beast Path, the environment was extremely important to all of them. All atmospheric and environmental variables and parameters needed to be exactly where they needed to be, or else it could harm their animals and their animal body parts.

They hadn’t expected that they would have to deal with such a great problem as a consequence of the battle between Rui and Lord Shenlong, and now the entire battle was proving to be a potentially even greater problem than if they just let the Dragon Emperor wage whatever war he sought. Regardless, even if they recognized their duty and adhered to it, Rui was hardly their biggest concern.

Another reason that they had sent massive parties to the Great Void Ocean was to verify its condition and understand exactly what they were dealing with. They had some understanding, of course, of what they were dealing with. But nothing had compared to actually finding the sheer scale of destruction that the Dragon Emperor had unleashed upon the ocean floor. The fissures in the crust reaching all the way to the mantle and the core were deep, causing an unstoppable spew of lava to emerge from the depths of the planet.

The therianthropes of Kiriket understood better than anyone just how dangerous this was for the future of the planet and for the future of their civilization. The sheer destruction that this event could cause was potentially enough to destroy all life on the planet if left untouched. Already, the geophysicists assigned to evaluate and assess the environmental destruction could conclude that it was likely impossible to fix the situation entirely.

Even with their high technology, fixing extraordinarily big and deep fissures in the crust located underneath an ocean was extremely difficult. The pressure of the ocean actually worked in their favor by holding down the lava that emerged with great force, with the great pressure pushing down on it with the weight of the ocean.

It wasn’t just the therianthropes who had deployed surveillance and research teams to the Great Void Ocean, of course. Each and every single continent, nation, species, and civilization deployed teams to collect data and any information they could on the environmental disaster created by the battle.

Much to the surprise of the dark elves, not only were the light elves interested in the matter, they even offered a joint initiative to maximize the amount of information and data that both sides could get their hands on. Like the therianthropes, the elves were also especially invested in the environment and environmental variables and parameters. These affected flora to an extreme degree and could lead to great ecological disasters that could completely destroy their carefully crafted flora paradise.

While the dwarves, tekvores, and evolutionaries conducted independent investigations, even within their own continent and species, to evaluate the situation and the threat analysis, the elves and the therianthropes agreed to cooperate so that they could make the best of the situation for both civilizations that shared the same problems.

Human civilization was the furthest away from the disaster, on the very opposite side of civilization, but Emperor Rael was far too wise to assume that the Panama Continent would be unaffected by this.

He skimmed through a flood of intelligence reports with a serious expression as a messenger knocked on his door, entering his room after being allowed in.

“Your Majesty, we have relocated His Highness to the manifold. He is currently undergoing medical treatment within the medical wing of the facility. The doctors estimate that he is certainly not in a life-threatening situation. He appears to have just been knocked out, although the rest of his body has suffered serious damage. Recovery will take a while, according to them.”

Emperor Rael steepled his fingers with a serious expression on his face. “And what of the time he needs for rest?”

The Kandrian Empire had learned to estimate how much time Rui needed for rest based on how long his Martial Embodiment was active in Gigabrain mode.

“About two months, sir. He will need to sleep for two months before he reawakens.”