The Martial Unity

While Rui worked from home, playing with Ria while listening to the reports and updates from his secretary, Amare spent her time in an isolated training chamber in the manifold. She had temporarily had her fill of her newborn daughter to just barely tolerate being separated from her for just an hour in real time, having given Rui a bottle of milk to feed Ria if she got hungry.

For the first time in nine months, she wore her Gen-style Martial attire. A one-piece attire from an extremely long shawl that wrapped across her entire body, woven from esoteric fabrics to withstand and transfer force to her body to survive the rigors of battle.

“Huff…” She heaved a deep breath as she balled her hands into fists, feeling the tremendous power within them.

BADUMP!!!

She activated her Martial Heart for the first time since she got pregnant as an expression of pure bliss, relief, and even pleasure spread through her body. She felt her power, the power of her Martial Body, course through her veins as a blindingly bright streak of light spread across her body from her heart.

This was the sensation that she had yearned for for over nine months. As a warrior, the limitations of her pregnancy were almost maddening, especially in the first three months, when she struggled to acclimatize. Now that she had finally given birth, she could finally mobilize her full power without restraint.

She activated her Martial Mind and her Martial Soul in rapid succession as she finally had her fill of her power.

RUMBLE!!!

The full might of the second strongest Martial Sage and Transcendent Candidate shook the manifold chamber as it struggled to contain the ocean of power that existed within her body. Matter converted into energy as she thoroughly enjoyed the flood of materia prima that coursed within her cells. RUMBLE!!!!!

Several minutes passed until she finally cooled down, having gotten a fill of her power after nine long months. She heaved a deep breath as her expression lit up with a refreshed sense of relief. “My power is perfectly intact. I was worried that pregnancy would have eroded some of it.”

But the power of a Transcendent Candidate was not moved by such a paltry restriction, it appeared. A triumphant, ecstatic smile emerged on her face as she gazed at her glowing hands with confidence.

As much as she loved the soulful intimacy of creating a new life within her being and bringing it to the world, she was truly happy to have finally emerged on the other side of the process and go back to how she was.

“Now then…” Her expression grew serious. “…Time to get stronger.”

She already knew exactly what she wanted to do.

When Rui first described Autocorpus to her, she instinctively knew that that technique suited her infinitely more than it suited him. He had indeed pioneered the first information-dimension Martial Art technique as a Martial Sage, but it didn’t reflect his Martial Path as much as the Forge of Creation or his metamorphosis did, even if it was one of the most powerful things he had ever created.

It suited her more than it suited him, for everything was Martial Art. She knew that she could make better use of the body-consciousness than Rui did, but she wanted to go beyond simply harnessing it to create absolute reactions and reflexes. She wanted to explore this new source of power beyond he did.

It was in Rui’s nature to explore the surface of a field before moving on to another field. His strength was adaptively evolving by choosing the best solutions from countless fields of Martial Art. Thus, he chose diversity over specialization, for the former aided Water more than the latter.

She was the opposite. She dove deeper into the realm of mastery of the basics than any other Martial Artist in history, achieving unfathomable proficiency in the most simple maneuvers. While she had chosen to diversify a little with Soul Retcon, mastery was still her greatest strength. “I will dive deeper into this body-consciousness business and master it to the fullest extent fathomable.” It was a promising path forward. She recounted all the experiences Rui had shared when working on Project Autocorpus, immediately relying on them to commence her training, sitting on the ground cross-legged, meditating.

Eight hours later, she opened her eyes, exhausted and covered in sweat.

“He was right, it’s maddeningly strenuous psychologically,” she murmured. “I barely made even the tiniest bit of progress.”

But it was a first step on her first day back to Martial Art, she would eventually get used to it.

She swiftly exited the manifold after it was opened for her, teleporting back to her royal quarters.

WHOOSH

“Who’s a cutie girl~ Yes, it’s you~” Rui cooed at Ria, not even reacting to Amare’s return, while Secretary Claris simply heaved a deep breath.

“That’s all for today’s reports, Your Majesty.”

“Well, finally. We’re done for the day, good work. Bye-bye. Say bye to Claris, Ria. Bye bye~” Rui waved his daughter’s little puffy hands at Secretary Claris, never taking his eyes away from his daughter. The two women simply stared at him, doting on Ria relentlessly, never growing tired of it, no matter how many times he repeated the same words in a cutesy tone.

“…I’ll take my leave now and leave this to you, Your Sagehood.” Secretary Claris heaved a sigh, bowing to both of them before leaving the royal chamber.

“So, how was your first day back as a Martial Artist?” Rui raised an eyebrow, directing a glance at his partner. “I bet it was a sweet pleasure beyond words, hm?”

Amare smiled at him, walking over to kiss Ria on the forehead with a loving expression.

“It was a wonderful feeling, but… it still didn’t compare to holding my newborn daughter in my arms after giving birth to her.”

Rui smiled at her. “I’m glad we feel the same way.”

His gaze returned to Ria as a profound expression emerged on his face.

“We’ve decided that…”

His tone grew more solemn.

“We’ve decided that we will dedicate Project Water to Ria.”

Amare’s amber eyes widened at those words.

She understood, more than anybody else, just how extreme a change in his entire life that was. Project Water was the compass to his life, and now he had declared that even that compass would be dedicated to something even greater.

“We will dedicate everything I have ever accomplished in my life to my precious daughter.”

Boundless love emerged in the depths of his ethereal eyes as he gazed at his newborn daughter, who had already dozed off in the blink of an eye. A serene and peaceful expression had come over her little puffy face and plump cheeks.

He could sense that comfort within her.

It was everything to him.

“Project Water was once a selfless project,” he continued with a solemn tone. “It was once a project meant to benefit everybody except for me. It was only after I was reborn in this world and life that it became selfish. And now…”

A smile of deep love emerged on his face as he gazed at Ria lovingly.

“It will go back to its roots. One way or another, we will dedicate everything we have to our daughter, no matter what form it takes.”

The weight of those words bore down on the atmosphere as Rui made a resolution that shook even Amare.