The Martial Unity

Lord Matsya’s words were not mere fear-mongering. No more than forty-eight hours had passed since the death of the Dragon Emperor, and they had already been attacked at the depths of the Great Nam Ocean.

Because water carried sound and pressure much farther and much faster than in air, distance had become proportionally smaller as attack ranges expanded exponentially.

That was why, despite the massive size of the Great Void Ocean, it became possible to attack from astronomical distances away that would not be as easily possible through land. One could almost directly transmit force with good enough technology.

“Let’s get back to building our defensive lines,” Waterweaver remarked. “It’s a shame our leaders haven’t forged that treaty for a joint venture yet, so we will have to be separate for now.”

“Very true. It would be unwise to leave it unchecked for too long. The first few days are going to be extremely important in determining our success in this venture.”

The therianthropes, dark elves, and the Martial Artists returned to their respective camps and began ironing out their defensive lines with each step that they expanded, ensuring that there was adequate security.

With each passing hour, however, the conflicts began growing and growing as more and more settlements began clashing with each other, growing more and more intense.

The reason was simple.

Countless parties started at the perimeter of the Great Void Ocean, continuing to go deeper and deeper into the ocean. Very few forces started at the very center for one reason: they were too exposed from all directions if they started off at the center, and they would have no secure path back and forth from the ocean. Thus, even the six powerhouses started at the edge of the ocean to secure a transit point in and out of the ocean, and then began expanding at an accelerated pace.

However, the deeper they all went, the less space they had, and the more they were compressed with each other, causing conflicts to emerge within the depths of the ocean at alarming rates.

The Panamic Alliance was no exception, experiencing friction from countless parties, whether it was skirmishes or full-blown assaults, forcing the Marinaera Kingdom to deploy much greater numbers of Martial Artists to the ocean as they began to withstand friction from all directions.

The Panamic Alliance quickly discovered that it received greater interest and a greater portion of all attacks from those who sought to try and destroy it. It wasn’t just from the increasingly frequent conflicts that they were experiencing from the NOVA-controlled tekvores, but also from other parties.

The motivation was simple.

They had more to gain from attacking the Panamic Alliance than any other party.

Currently, the esoteric matter available in the true world is highly limited. Shortly after the death of the Dragon Emperor, Empress Schlieffen had kept her promise to Rui and had signed a treaty between the Hlakaschken Trade Empire and the Panamic Alliance and its various constituents for a trade deal that made it the first and only broker of esoteric materials exported from the Panamic Continent.

However, that only caused the demand to spike.

All technology that the Panamic Alliance had was esoteric, and even high-grade esoteric, whether it was their submarines, volcanic mineral extractors, or their mining crafts. By attacking the Panamic Alliance, they gained not only their territory, which contained lots of negatron vents and negatron mines, but also other esoteric matter.

It was highly profitable.

Countless private and even national third parties began nibbling away at the Panamic Alliance with small attacks designed not to win, but to weaken and keep busy so that they could loot some of their esoteric matter.

The Panamic Alliance had to grit their teeth as they withstood punishment after punishment from countless different parties that sought to steal their esoteric matter, forcing the Emperor of Harmony to deploy more Martial Artists, weakening the defense of the continent.

However, each set of reinforcements brought more and more esoteric matter with it, inevitably, and began putting more and more pressure on the Panamic Alliance.

The dark elves also strained, trying to support the Panamic Alliance when their Mothers of Nature were so far away, while the therianthropes had not yet recovered from their brief civil war as Lord Vakratunda tried his best to unite the people of his land after the Authority of Alpha of the Dragon Emperor slowly passed away after his passing.

They were not the force to be reckoned with that they were at their very strongest.

It meant that the Panamic Alliance alone had to face attacks from not just the NOVA-controlled tekvores, but also the giants, and the Evolutionary Army that was greedy for both negatron matter and high-grade esoteric matter all in one.

The countless private parties and other nations also acted like piranhas, surging in to try and take singular bites and run away, frustrating and tiring out the defensive line of the Panamic Alliance.

Things were only bound to get worse as the negatron matter became more and more abundantly available in the world, improving wormhole technology to great heights. This would allow them to get their hands on the power to teleport ambushes on the Panamic Mining Operations.

It would become an irreversible trend, making their future almost impossible to protect.

By the fourth day of the mining operations, the defensive lines of the Panamic Alliance were constantly in battle, protecting against many enemies who sought to destroy them and take them out. The Martial Artists of the Marinaera Kingdom were on duty twenty-four-seven, resting away in the Kandrian Empire’s manifold before being teleported back as close as possible so that they could get back as soon as possible. The monsters and beasts that had been transported had also become a target for the esoteric matter within their body, making them more of a liability than an asset.

Four days had passed, and things had begun to degenerate out of hand.

However, four days had passed.

Within the depths of the manifold was an unconscious man. His hair was a deep black while his body was tinted with a similar darkness, as if his shadows had been exaggerated by a bright light.

He had been asleep for nearly two months.

And now, he finally awakened, slowly opening his pitch-black eyes.

Within their depths was unfathomable power.