The Martial Unity

Battles such as those of the Kingdom of Grahal were not uncommon. A vast majority of nations had organized Martial crime, and most of it existed at the Apprentice and Squire levels. The Void Order deployed Squires and Seniors to deal with them, so that the battles would end quickly. And they did, Martial mafias and underworlds across the entire continent were forced to fight Martial Artists a Realm above them, allowing the Void Order to clean them all up without much collateral damage. It was not impossible for large groups of Martial Artists of a lower Realm to take on a Martial Artist of a higher Realm, but the sheer coordination and teamwork that such a feat demanded was far beyond unruly and undisciplined mafias. They were haplessly swept clean.

Martial Squires crushed gangs of Martial Apprentices. Martial Seniors wiped out gangs of Martial Squires. Martial Masters did the same for Seniors, and Sages; Masters.

The goal was an overwhelming show of dominance and, more importantly, to end the conflicts with minimal collateral damage.

If the Void Order’s conquest of the Martial World came with much pain for the average person, then it would simply lose too much support from people and eventually nations. Nobody wanted to be in a war-torn zone where the battles of Martial Artists brought about large amounts of death and destruction.

That was the antithesis of what the end-goal of the Void Order even was. Thus, the Martial Artists recruited and trained by the order were instructed on minimizing collateral damage, ideally getting rid of it entirely from the very get-go.

And it proved to work.

Seventy-two hours into the conquest of the initial wave of resistance by Martial crime, and online public sentiment on the nascent Panamic interweb remained fairly positive. Users shared anecdotes of how dignified Martial Artists crushed assholes that they had been plagued with, and how vindicating watching all of that unfold.

[Man, did you see that video of that Senior crushing that Martial Squire’s head when he tried to take a hostage? That was the best feeling in the world! Apparently, they’re going to stick around and keep an eye on any Martial Apprentices in the area so that we can live in peace.]

[Yeah, I live in a dangerous part of town with Squire gangs, and they constantly demand ‘protection fees’ from my dad every week. Today, I saw a Martial Senior wipe them out by twisting their heads off when they resisted. I’m so glad those motherfuckers are dead.]

[Dude, my neighborhood had like a hundred Martial Apprentices who did nothing but bully people and assault women. It was almost poetic when the Void Order deployed a woman Squire to crush them. You should have seen how much everybody cheered when she crushed their junk underneath her feet! It was the best moment of my life!]

[All hail Emperor Rui!]

Strangely enough, however, a sudden upsurge in the number of anti-Rui hate comments pushed back against the emergence online.

[Rui is a totalitarian! He literally wants to subjugate civilization. Don’t be so fooled. Once he subjugates the Martial Artists, you guys are next!]

[I saw Martial Artists go on a rampage against civilians. This is an evil organization.]

[It’s just a pretext to take over the continent. He’s jealous that NOVA has full control over Tekvoria, and now he wants to do the same with us!]

A flood of propaganda began picking back up, even if it was a minority amidst all the positive sentiment from the many people who lived in fear of organized Martial crime, causing online feuding to reach unprecedented highs in the young history of the interweb.

In the real world, however, things proceeded smoothly and sequentially. At first, it was organized Martial crime, starting with the weakest, before slowly moving to more serious Martial Crime orders.

Once the Realm of the Martial Artists in question grew, the difficulty of the operations rose, for the capacity for indiscriminate collateral damage grew to much greater heights.

“Sage Fae, I am aware that a group of low-level Martial Masters like us cannot defeat you, but… if you dare lay a finger on us, then every single person in the city will die.” One Martial Master growled with a ferocious expression and dark eyes.

Behind her were nearly twenty other Martial Masters, each all but ready to activate their Martial Minds. Their attention remained raptly fixed on the Martial Sage before them as they all stood in a tight alleyway in the center of a flea market. The darkness of the night sky seemed to come alive as a heightened tension tingled electrically between the group of Martial Masters and the Martial Sage. Sage Fae sharpened her eyes. Her silver hair swayed in the winds that brushed past them while her red eyes remained fixed on the Martial Masters before them with an alert expression.

She could tell that their bodies were on the verge of striking the ground through their feet. They were holding off until the very final moment in case she made even the faintest of movements or activated one of her Realms of power.

It would kill millions, considering their power.

Could she kill them before they could get away with it?

She couldn’t be certain.

“We also have Martial Masters positioned in other parts of the bazaar, even if you succeed in killing us, they will kill millions in the blink of an eye,” the female Martial Master, Master Sirika of the Karyuon Gang, growled at Sage Fae. “If you don’t want to be responsible for the death of millions, then I suggest you back the fuck off and go back to wherever you came from. I don’t give a damn if your boss is the Dawnbringer or even the Martial Transcendents, but we’re not just going to roll over and surrender! Especially not to one lone Martial Sage!”

Sage Fae smiled. “Good thing I’m not alone then.”

Master Sirika widened her eyes late as she immediately turned around on instinct.

She spotted a green blur.

One that decapitated all of her comrades.

WHOOSH

Kane arrived before her in the blink of an eye, entirely unmoved. “I killed the others as well.”

Master Sirika gritted her teeth, activating her Martial Mind to inflict mass brain damage.

BOOOM!!!

Her head exploded in the heat of Sage Fae’s Vacuum Palm attack.

“Ew,” Kane muttered at the splattered blood, gore, and brain matter. “Still, mission accomplished. This two-man-team idea was really good, huh?”

Sage Fae nodded. “The subjugation of Master-level crime would have been much more violent without this tactical measure.”

Even though Martial Sages could defeat large groups of Masters by themselves, they were deployed with another, often two other Martial Sages. One Martial Sage would serve as the front-end pressuring agent whose goal was to outwardly search for and hunt the Martial Masters alive.

The goal was to smoke them out of their hiding spots and force them to take hostages once they grew desperate enough, making their locations clear. Once all of them were located, the hidden Sages would swiftly assassinate them, ensuring there were no casualties.

Kane heaved a deep breath. “…Your turn, Rui.”