The Martial Unity

The Blood Cult was not the only Sage-level powerhouse that had begun weaving machinations on the void created by the passing of the Emperor of Harmony.

Other Sage-level powerhouses began making moves, understanding the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that had befallen them. They secretly began evaluating the princes and princesses who could serve as a vessel to exert control over the Kandrian Empire.

Emperor Rael sired so many children that they had many candidates whom they could woo. It didn’t matter if they didn’t have any power; with a whole Sage-level powerhouse supporting them, they could make a serious bid for the throne.

A silent storm had begun to brew in the Kandrian Empire less than an hour after the death of the Emperor of Harmony. The only reason it was silent as opposed to violently loud was the presence of one and only one man.

They feared him.

They feared the retaliation they would invite if they dared to openly make bids for the throne of the Kandrian Empire despite being outsiders. He alone held back the entire Martial World that had converged and gathered in the Kandrian Empire.

This was especially so when they thought of the boundless power that he seemed to have gained after sixteen years of training. The notion that a single Martial Artist could fight two top-ten powerhouses and a nigh-top-ten MECHA Sage and emerge victorious was truly awe-inspiring.

It meant that even if all of them jumped at him at once, they likely would not be able to win. The fact that he was a prince was also highly deterring. The only reason that Sage-level powerhouses possessed some optimism in gaining influence on the future ruler of the Kandrian Empire was the fact that it was a well-established fact that Rui had shunned the throne, going out of his way to avoid becoming Emperor even when he was a mere Martial Senior.

Already, different factions, power blocs, Sage-level powerhouses had commenced their wooing campaigns in silence despite the fact that most Martial Sages and Martial Masters had gone to rest.

For now, their campaigns remained muted.

They waited.

They waited for the Dawnbringer to address the Kandrian Empire and the continent. They needed to understand what his position was and accordingly adapt to any restrictions or warnings he would make. No one dared to take serious risks before having clarity on the variable known as the Void Prince.

And yet, Rui had not once moved from the forest in which he had secluded himself.

WHOOSH

A cool breeze brushed past him as pitch-black hair and clothes fluttered. The forest was silent, save for rustling leaves, swaying trees, and the chirps and squeaks of birds and critters.

An air of darkness had descended on the world around him despite the bright and warm light of the morning sun.

His expression was equally dark despite his translucent body.

“You look like a mess.”

Kane’s voice stirred him as he glanced up, spotting the man descending from the sky next to him. His exhaustion from the battle was written all over his bruised face, but he had still searched the entire empire for Rui, finally finding him in a forest in South Kandria.

Rui’s expression softened wordlessly as Kane heaved a deep breath, taking a seat on a rock next to Rui, taking a glance or two at Rui with intrigued eyes.

It was the first time he had seen Rui since he went into training. The translucent body was incredibly fascinating and curious, but Kane kept his mouth shut on the matter, knowing what kind of state of mind Rui was in.

“The others seem to disagree, but… I don’t think it’s your fault,” Kane remarked.

Rui directed a dubious glance at Kane. “You don’t need to try to coddle me, Kane. The chain of causality leading to his death can be tied back to my actions.”

His ethereal voice surprised Kane, but he focused more on the words.

“Yeah, well, the chain of causality of everything can be tied to the creation of Gaia, but you wouldn’t blame her for his death, would you?” Kane huffed. “Your actions were… not ideal. But ultimately, NOVA simply won and overcame the measures your father had taken to hide himself. It’s really all that simple.”

“This is different,” Rui replied with a serious tone. “I endangered him and the Kandrian Empire by deciding to go into training after I started a world war. If I had partaken in the war, the scales would have tipped away from NOVA, and my father would not have felt the need to call NOVA to make an offer of concession, which ultimately allowed her to narrow his location down.”

“If you hadn’t gone into training, then something even worse might have happened,” Kane offered. “I’m guessing NOVA planned to hijack the therianthropes and the sentinels from the very start, right? In that case, we would have still ended up in a situation where you would have to fight Sentinel Prime, Suneater, and that fucking traitor together. If you didn’t train, then you would have lost, which would have been much worse than the current situation. The Kandrian Empire would be destroyed, and we would all be dead.”

It was a thoughtful argument, but Rui’s guilt did not allow him to simply accept it as a way to rid himself of his responsibility.

“The war was even without my absence, which means with my presence, it would have tilted in our favor from the very start. We would have made massive gains, weakening NOVA and her allies, as well as the allies she could have earned, achieving a dominant advantage from the very start. There’s a good chance we would have won the war much earlier. Even if that did not happen, we could have forced her to deploy the hacking of Sentinel Prime much ahead of time, which would have allowed me to tackle it before the arrival of the Suneater. Not to mention…”

He turned towards Kane with a dark expression. “I could have stopped her from hacking the therianthropes with her authority, since mine is stronger, ridding her of that trump card as well.”