The Martial Unity

Ria collapsed to the ground as her knees gave out. Tears flowed from her eyes uncontrollably as she sobbed relentlessly and inconsolably. A painful sense of reckoning and despair emerged within her, crushing her heart, making her feel like she herself was going to die.

She felt a tremendous amount of self-loathing and hatred. She felt guilt. She felt as though she was responsible for the death of her friends. That she had misguided them about the dangers associated with the mission. That she had lied to them and led them to a death trap.

She couldn’t help but think of all the things that she could have done differently that could have led to a different outcome. She couldn’t help but think about everything that could have gone differently had she been stronger, had she been wiser.

She desperately searched for anything that could undo the outcomes that had occurred, but there were none. If even her father couldn’t undo their deaths, then there was likely nothing that could.

”Ria…” Misha got up, walking towards her, kneeling before her. Her expression was one of profound melancholy. Her eyes, cybernetic as they were, were sorrowful. Even though she had never been the passionate kind of friend who placed friendship above all else, she too felt deeply wounded by the loss of two friends.

Misha didn’t have that many friends to begin with, especially due to her reserved temperament and personality. Yet she had been blessed with four friends that she could indeed trust her back with. And now, two of them were dead. That was a blow to anybody, even those who weren’t passionate about friendship. Perhaps especially those who weren’t passionate about friendship.

But more than anything, she felt the need to comfort Ria rather than to dwell on her own sorrow.

”It’s not your fault, Ria,” Misha spoke with a softer tone than she normally did. ”Unfortunately… sometimes people die. People very close to us. Friends. Family. Being a pathwalker is dangerous. And being an active pathwalker for hire is dangerous. Being an adventurer in the frontier is even more dangerous. And what we were doing was even more dangerous than that.”

”I was… sniff… the one who… sniff… convinced all of you to do this,” Ria replied between sobs even as she broke down.

”We had three months to think about it, and we chose to do it anyway,” Misha heaved a deep, shaky breath. ”I can assure you that I made my decision and stuck with after doing a scrupulous amount of research. And the same is true for the others as well, to lesser extents. Everybody put a lot of thought into this decision. We were aware of the risks. We did it anyway. That means that we too bear some responsibility that happened, not just you.”

That didn’t make Ria feel better. If anything, that made her feel worse. It meant that there was no way for this not to have happened, even if it reduced the burden of responsibility she felt.

”She’s right…” Runark managed to squeeze out, breathing unsteadily. ”I made my choice after talking to a lot of people. Including my dad and Uncle Rui here, both of whom had participated in liberating Panama from the manifold. I made the decision I made regardless.”

His green eyes were bloodshot, growing teary with emotion. ”This isn’t your fault, Ria.”

The Emperor of Water walked over to Ria, kneeling beside her as he pulled her into a hug. It only made her bawl her eyes out more, pressing her face into his chest as he gently patted her on the back of her head.

It took a while until she managed to calm down, turning towards the suspended corpses of her friends before turning back to her alive friends with a serious expression.

”From this point on, I alone will be undertaking these operations. Neither of the two of you will be joining me.”

Runark’s green eyes widened with shock, while Misha managed to remain calm and composed, falling into thought. Her father simply stared at her silently, choosing not to say anything about the decision she had made.

”Ria! You can’t do this alone!” Runark gritted his teeth. ”It’s pure arrogance to think that you can take on these burdens by yourself! You have to at least let me come along.”

”I, too, question the wisdom of undertaking an operation like that of ours all by yourself,” Misha remarked with a thoughtful tone of voice. ”Having said that… I concur. I was going to choose to withdraw from partaking in the operations anyway.”

”Wait, what?” Runark turned towards Misha with an expression of surprise. ”You’re giving up on them?”

Misha raised an eyebrow, turning towards him. ”And you’re not? After what happened?”

”I thought you said you don’t blame Ria.” He frowned.

”I don’t, but this has nothing to do with that,” Misha replied calmly. ”The reality is that I ended up in the condition that I ended up in because I was weak and unfit for an operation of that difficulty. Whatever that thing at the center of the manifold was, I was deeply unqualified to handle it. And, I say this in good faith…”

She turned towards Runark.

”You, too, would be better off not participating either. Not at your current level of power.”

In that moment, Runark felt an explosion erupt in the depths of his mind.

An explosion of desperation that verged on madness. His eyes grew bloodshot with intensity as he gritted his teeth so hard that he inadvertently bit his lip, causing it to bleed. He had spent three and a half years in the manifold, training hard with his father to reach a level of power where he could not be held by his own weakness relative to Ria.

And yet, it didn’t change the outcome.

Ria chose not to go with him anyway.

Because she didn’t want to see him dead.

Because she didn’t think he was strong enough to survive in the field, and how could he blame her?

He had died, after all.