The Martial Unity

Her preliminary report quelled the storm the second it hit the database of the office of intelligence in the Kandrian Empire. Immediately, the signs of the brewing storms that were starting to ravage all of Gaia began to quell as the news of Rui’s sustained existence spread through human civilization.

Minister Ru heaved a deep breath, feeling her nerves calm down a little as her heart rate slowed down. Just thinking of what an absolute mess they would have to deal with if he truly was gone made her feel deep gratitude towards him.

She turned towards him with an expression of appreciation.

“Thank you.”

Her words were sincere.

“Thank you for saving our world.” She smiled at her older brother. “Thank you for… still existing. All of human civilization owes you an unpayable debt. Though even saying that at this point is redundant, it is still something that should be said. So on behalf of everybody here and all of Kandria, I am deeply grateful to you.”

A wave of approving nods and second remarks came over the ministers as they expressed great words of gratitude, making Rui feel awkward.

“Alright alright.” He raised his hands, gesturing for them to stop. “I appreciate all of that, but…”

His expression grew serious. “As far as I’m concerned, I’m simply living up to my duty as Emperor. When I chose to sit on the throne, I swore I would protect the entire world. There is no need to keep thanking me for that. More importantly…”

His eyes sharpened as his mood grew even more solemn. “My job is not yet complete.”

The atmosphere in the emergency meeting room grew a little heavy as each and every single one of them remembered the tribulations that they had just overcome. The strange jellyfish-like aliens and the eerie avian-aquatic hybrid aliens, each the size of the Suneater on average. It was horrifying. In fact, the ministers had yet to fully process these terrifying revelations. The implications and the consequences were truly chilling.

It implied a cosmos filled with alien civilizations and species that were vastly more powerful than they were. It would have gripped their hearts with fear.

If not for the presence of one man.

One Transcendent.

They gazed at him with an expression of hope and salvation. His presence, indistinguishable from what they would expect from a god, bore heavy on all of them. The very nature of Water seemed to radiate from him and through the very fabric of reality, as if endowing their very existence with his power.

His authority over reality felt inviolable.

His power felt absolute.

As if no force in the vast universe could so much as even inflict a speck of harm upon his body.

Rui’s eyes narrowed as he felt their relief.

Their certainty and their confidence.

They truly believed that with him, nothing could harm them.

As long as they had him, everything would be fine.

Even if the universe itself attacked them, they would be fine because they were protected by the might of a Martial Transcendent.

“D̷͍̲͈̤͓̘̼̦̮̳̱̜͈̣́̾̉͊o̷̰̗̟͙̽̑̆̏̔̉͒͆̈́̓́́̈́͑̿͜ ̸̢̥̘̯͖̱̹̥̀̊͒̎̒̓̚͜͝͠ͅͅṋ̴̡̹̖̯̪̯̞̭͉̊̽̄̌̿͒͐̚͘o̸̧̡̻̼̫̖̤̭͋̒̅́̎̃́̇̔̒͝t̸̨͖̲͎͍̖̳̳̻̤̐͐͐̎̑̑̕̚͝͝͝ͅ ̷̢̹̤̊͆́̋́̑͊̿̈́͐̂͗͠͝b̷̡̛̘̜̞̬̩͈̹̩͖̫͇͖̭e̸̢̩̣͔̙̟̯̘̳̠̐̈͋̉͊͛͒̅̓ͅ ̶̨̙̘̆͒̀͆̄̈́̏̃̔̕̚̚͝͝s̵̘̪̺͉͓̗̪̬̠̻̓͒͐ơ̶͉̤͇̄̓̓̐̈̏͌͆̃͐̍̏̋͝ ̷̢̟̟̳̘̜͍͎̋̔̎̊̂̕c̴̰͓̅̀̏͆̇̎̽͌͒̕͠͝e̴̛̙̒͗͑̈́̽̓͗́̆͆̒ŗ̸̼̯̀̏̄̊̀̈́͐͑̉̈́̆̈̅̓t̷̥̖̪̯͓̻͎̹̻̘͙̍̏a̶͖̫̠͖̠͍͌̎̄̊̕î̶͚͓̬̱͎̘͚̜̱̰̻̮̖̎̀n̵̢̹͔̣͖̟͒͛́́̒́̑̎̍̓́̉͂͘ͅ.”

He spoke for the first time in his true voice as it shattered the limitations of causality, spreading through the fourth dimension. It resonated through past, present, and future, overlapping through time.

His words broke them from their little reverie as he displayed just a little of the unfathomable, godly power of a Martial Transcendent. “I am not omnipotent,” Rui replied calmly. “Martial Transcendants are not all-powerful. Even my power, great as it indeed is, has limitations. If you are under the illusion that I can singlehandedly protect everybody from the forces of this universe, then dispel the thought.”

His hand moved to his heart as he closed his eyes.

The emotion that crushed his heart every moment.

The Fear.

It was even stronger than when he was a Martial Sage using Gigabrain. Every moment, he felt like he was staring into the eyes of a alien eldritch monstrosity that was the size of a universe. Before such an unfathomable being, even his mighty Transcendence was naught but an insect.

He almost felt tempted to share his Fear with them, to show them the magnitude of the danger.

And yet, he decided not to.

The Fear was a burden that only those above a certain threshold of awareness could experience. Awareness that came with heightened consciousness and power. It was his burden and his responsibility.

It was beneath him to share that with lesser beings.

“The world has grown more dangerous.”

His tone of voice grew more intent. “To be more precise, we have only just understood how dangerous the world has become,” Rui continued with a serious expression. “We live in a dangerous universe. And, as you all know…”

His eyes sharpened. “We are not alone. There are others. Other civilizations. Other species. Other life across the vast web of light in our universe. And hostile or not, they are all vastly technologically superior than we are. They have mastered interalactic travel across extraordinary distances, while we are merely on the cusp of our first interstellar trip.”

They gazed at him with grim expressions as their eyes grew hazy with worry. Indeed, the might of the laminar army and the nebulars were chilling. Everybody gathered in the emergency meeting was extremely proud to be a Kandrian. They were the most powerful polity in the entire world.

And yet, that pride now felt silly and meaningless. All of Gaian Civilization together could barely survive the attack of the laminar army from one world ship, and none of them were naive enough to believe that that laminar ship was the only one.

“There are many truths that have become evident in the past several hours.” Rui’s voice drew their attention once more as he continued with a serious tone. “The first is that our greatest advantage are pathwalkers. Are technology, our spaceships and spacecrafts, our weapons and defenses, were all inferior to those of our opponents-turned-allies. But…”

A hint of confidence emerged on his face. “Our pathwalker infantry is vastly superior to theirs. That is our greatest advantage and will remain our greatest advantage. We must do everything in our power to foster it.”