The Martial Unity

Rui’s gratitude was sincere, for the insights that the wise Elder Tree had given him were of immense importance.

I am happy that I was of help to you. I am certain that by helping you, I am helping our entire continent. I look forward to how you will fulfill your responsibility, Rui Quarrier.

Rui nodded with a less burdened expression and posture. “Anyway, back to the original reason I came to visit you. Can you give me the stuff I stored here?”

Of course.

RUMBLE

The ground quivered as the roots at the base of the Elder Tree opened up, unveiling the items that Rui had entrusted to it.

The head of Tokugawa Ieyasu.

The Abyssal Mirror MECHA, he once piloted with the rest of his corpse within it.

Weapon Authority.

The living corpse of the former Blood Lord.

Rui had opened up a portal to the Elder Tree, entrusting him to keep these because he didn’t have a better alternative that popped right into mind. Entrusting things to the Kandrian Empire was complicated because he wasn’t as intimately familiar with the storage and logistical system or the chain of command. He didn’t want too many people becoming aware of these items.

Curious things you have entrusted me, the Elder Tree remarked with an intrigued expression. Especially this engineered living creature… I have sensed that it has a truly special quality in regard to its relationship with all other creatures of the animal kingdom. Its existence has unpleasant implications.

Rui stared at the wary Weapon Authority.

With NOVA outside of a range of communication, it was no longer manipulated and acted as any creature might. It was fearful, wary, and snarled as Rui floated down before it.

“I have no need of it,” Rui replied. “Its existence has unpleasant implications for me, more than anybody. It means that my Authority can be challenged through synthetic and engineered challengers. That is annoying and has great risks.”

What do you plan to do with it? Do you intend to destroy it? The Elder Tree asked with a curious tone. It would be a shame to lose such an interesting specimen, if you ask me.

“NOVA is probably creating a superior version even as we speak,” Rui remarked even as it stared at the cowering Weapon Authority. “Destroying it will merely put us at a disadvantage in this new arms race.”

That was what Weapon Authority represented.

A new arms race.

Rui heaved a sigh. “I highly doubt NOVA will be able to match me in Authority, since my Authority of Alpha has grown extraordinarily stronger since I first obtained it. But still… she can do a lot of damage to us indirectly.”

You mean by hacking the therianthropes as she did in this recent battle.

“Correct,” Rui replied with a severe tone. “The therianthropes are true allies that I have forged. Our friendship goes beyond pure transactions, as with the dark elves. I don’t want my allies to be this vulnerable and weak, so…”

His attention returned to Weapon Authority. “I’m thinking of handing this fellow to Lord Vakratunda. They are most negatively affected by this new arms race. They have the most to gain. And we will benefit more if they become immune to this weakness.”

Are you planning on just handing over a technological miracle like this?

“Of course not,” Rui snorted. “I’m going to get my money’s worth, without a doubt. I will have them share their proprietary biotechnology with us in exchange for a win-win transaction. And it will be a joint research project into Weapon Authority with research teams from both continents. It will just be under shared custody within the Continent of Kiriket.”

However, Rui couldn’t do that right away. He would first need to quell the political storm brooding over the Panama Continent before, and he intended to do that right away after this meeting, one way or another. Even the errands he was running, while very important, were merely a way for him to process what was happening and think about the way he wanted to take the future.

Now, he had gained some clarity thanks to his conversation with the Elder Tree.

That is prudent. What about this pitch-black head? Why have you entrusted me with a dead head containing a living brain inside it? Is he a hostage of someone important?

Rui’s expression grew cold as it shifted to the severed head of Tokugawa Ieyasu as he sensed the brainwaves emerging from it.

The man was dreaming.

Random figments of his imagination combined with a large amount of activity in his memory center, meaning he was probably reliving certain parts of his life.

“Don’t say he,” Rui huffed as he walked over to the head of Tokugawa Ieyasu. “Think of this as a tool and nothing more. ’It’ is merely a research interest, and it is a tool that will serve as a way for us to potentially detect the Fear. It will become a precious instrument in our detection of the virus.”

Fear? Virus? I do not follow.

“Ah…” Rui turned towards him with lit eyes. “I haven’t told you, now that I think about it. Well, you’re just the person to bring into our little informal task force. I’m sure you’ll get along with the other members really well. So you see…”

Rui told him about his discussion with the Divine Doctor, with whom the Elder Tree was well acquainted. He told him about all the pieces of evidence that they had collected, along with the deductions that followed. The unlikelihood of the simultaneity of the Panamic manifold emerging and the Epoch of Evolution in the true world, the alien origin of the cause, the correlation between the growing size of the planet, the negatron core, the role of esoteric matter as planet-enlargener, and the Virus Hypothesis that he had come up with, along with the Divine Doctor.

The Elder Tree absorbed the information silently as it processed the staggering implications of everything Rui told him.

If all the esoteric matter in this continent is truly some alien instrument that will enlarge the planet and eventually destroy it, then… that has troubling implications for me as a lifeform who needs esoteric matter in the soil and bedrock to survive, the Elder Tree pondered with a serious tone. If esoteric matter needs to be fully mined or extracted from the continent for Gaia to survive, then… I will die. Which means my death might be necessary for the survival of Gaia.