The Martial Unity

It was the first time that he had considered it since becoming Emperor, since the whole point of becoming Emperor and imposing his power upon human civilization to create the Void Order regime was to put pressure on him and force him to grow as a Martial Artist.

However, ever since he became a Transcendent, that pressure was largely gone. For a Sage, or a Corporeal, rather, trying to dominate human civilization with his own power was indeed a great burden and kept him sharp and strong.

But once he broke through to the Transcendent Realm, it was simply no longer stimulating. The whetstone of human civilization was too soft for his current level of power. For the first time since ascending the throne, he considered something that he hadn’t considered before.

’Maybe it’s time to abdicate the throne entirely.’

Without the stimulation to his Martial Art, the only thing it brought him was responsibility and burden. It was a shackle that constrained his options. He had to constantly think about the impact of his actions upon human civilization.

”So,” Divine Mother ooo—o- restored his attention back to the world around him, gazing at him deeply with her six arachnid eyes. ”Will you sell your ability to me?”

He considered it. In line with his prior line of reasoning, one of the reasons he didn’t have as much pressure was that Transcendents were held back by the consequences of the Verse. If they could overcome the price of the Verse, they would be allowed to exercise their power freely. If they could do that, he could meaningfully restore adversity to his current state.

Still, he shook his head. ”For now, no. I’m going to use your kind’s inability to overcome the price of Transcendence against you. This plan won’t work if your sisters find out how to overcome the price of the Transcendent Realm.”

Her six eyes lit up with a hint of enthusiasm. ”Then what about after this war has subsided?”

Rui pondered the possibility, shrugging.

”I’ll consider it.”

”I truly hope you do,” she replied with an optimistic tone. ”Fear of disappearing after using one’s power is truly a tiresome thing. It’s the greatest fear that plagues us Divine Mothers.”

His ethereal eyes sharpened at that comment. It was interesting that she would ascribe something as trivial as that as the greatest fear they experienced. ”Oh, I suffer from a much greater Fear that plagues me every moment.”

He paid attention to her reaction to those words.

”Someone as strong as you also experiences such fear?”

She seemed surprised.

That told him everything he needed to know.

He simply shook his head, getting up. ”Alright, I need to get going. I have to prepare for an ambush.”

”When do you intend to conduct the ambush?” She asked, frowning at his sudden desire to depart.

”Probably in a week’s time.”

”She’ll still be there, but don’t delay it too much. The mating session doesn’t go on indefinitely.”

”Will do,” Rui replied, teleporting away.

When he reached his Royal Office, his secretary was there, waiting for him.

”Your Majesty,” Secretary Claris remarked, holding a stack of files in her hand. ”There are eighty agendas that require your—”

”No.”

Rui’s voice cut right through hers, much to her surprise. His ethereal eyes swept the Royal Office deeply, as if studying it for the first time.

”I remember when this used to belong to my father,” he muttered.

Claris frowned at those words. It was unlike the Emperor to make such remarks. Usually, he was content listening. ”Did something happen, Your Majesty?”

Rui walked over to his table, brushing his hands on the surface. He could almost picture his often overworked father at the table, poring over numerous documents. Much of the reason he used to be overworked was because of Rui.

Those days, Rui used to be more of a free spirit, unbound by responsibility. The burdens he had chosen to voluntarily undertake, keeping thousands and thousands of Martial Sages in check with his sheer power alone, had served him well.

He didn’t particularly notice that the pressure was gone after he broke through to Transcendence. Probably because he was busy with other things that had consumed much of his life.

’Ria.’ He smiled softly as he thought about his daughter. ’I wonder what she’s doing right now.’

She was undoubtedly scouting the next infected world to hunt. Her contributions to the war would ensure long-term sustainability, as the resources she would undoubtedly provide would feed humanity.

’She’s all grown up now.’

He remembered when she was a newborn baby. He remembered when she was a toddler, a girl, a teenager, and an adult. She was easily the most important thing in his life, even though he didn’t see her much these days. He was concerned about her activities and the attention that they would draw to her. He could handle the human attention, but what truly concerned him was the alien attention. It would not be missed for too long that somehow a human company was able to find infected worlds left and right.

One of the reasons he chose not to invite the Tendril of Light to human civilization, even if it would help greatly, was that he wanted to avoid the laminars finding out about EsoQuest Solutions for as long as possible. But how long could that possibly continue?

At some point, they would find out. And they would request the technology that allowed infected worlds to be scouted, even if they didn’t suspect the company of having the Key.

’Life has gotten more complicated.’

But it had also gotten more rewarding.

”Your Majesty?” Claris raised an eyebrow.

Her voice brought him back to the material world. He heaved a deep breath, shaking his head. ”It’s nothing. Handle all the matters for me. You know how I think and feel on most of these issues. I trust you to hold the fort.”

She furrowed her eyebrows. She wasn’t unaccustomed to some amount of delegation for him, especially the boring stuff. But he rarely made her do everything. ”Where do you intend to go?”

”Hm… first, to Dwight,” he replied thoughtfully. ”He still has my armor.”

That confused his secretary even more. She had never seen him wear armor, ever.

”After that…” His ethereal eyes sharpened. ”I have a Divine Mother to ambush.”

He had lied when he said he would ambush her in a week or that he needed to prepare. He wanted to throw his tentative ally off the timing, just in case she intended to betray him. He had no intention of waiting. He would ambush her right away.