The Martial Unity

”If you destroy this planet... you’ll be killing your sister as well.”

Divine Mother oooo—— frowned at those words. Out of all the things that he could have said, she didn’t expect such incomprehensible words from the Emperor of Water. She expected him to say that he couldn’t trust her, and she had already prepared a response for that.

CLICK CLICK CLICK CLICK

”What. Do. You. Mean?”

Rui grinned as he manipulated light to produce an image.

An image of a crystal-encased Divine Mother frozen in time. The grim expression of o-o-o-o refracted through the crystalline structure of her time prison. The horrible wounds that checkered her golden fur. Her body dyed blue with her copper-laced blood.

Each of the Divine Mothers reacted with horror at the image. They recognized their sister, of course. Even though she was of a different faction, all of them had mourned the death of a younger sister who had faithfully served her role in the expansion of Arakai Web Civilization.

All this time, they thought she had been killed. Killed by the Emperor of Water himself. Yet, as they studied the image and beheld the smile on his face, they realized that he had never killed her.

He had captured her alive.

This agitated all of them tremendously.

CLICK CLICK CLICK CLICK CLICK!

”Lies! You. Lie. To. Save. Your. Hide!” Divine Mother oooo—— clicked with an expression crumpling with anger.

Rui simply smirked at the question, before projecting another image.

It was a three-dimensional cranial hologram.

”This is the brain of the Divine Mother.”

Within the skull was not an organ, but rather a dense web that spread across the internal surface of the cranium.

”Here are some of her memories.”

He featured classified intelligence that only Divine Mothers would know. Some of which was only what Divine Mother o-o-o-o knew.

Their expressions grew ugly.

This was irrefutable.

”She’s somewhere on Gaia right now, but she’s on the verge of death,” Rui grinned. ”If you destroy Gaia, you’ll destroy her. No question. So what’s it going to be, leader of a faction filled with Divine Mothers, are you going to actively kill your sister?”

Doubts flashed in the minds of the other Divine Mothers as they turned towards the leader of the War Faction. Divine Mother oooo——’s expression was filled with fury as she glared at Rui with hateful eyes.

In truth, she didn’t care too much about o-o-o-o. Yes, she was a Divine Mother and part of the power of the arakai, but she belonged to the Virus Faction. If she were alone, she would have pursued Transcendent impunity even if it meant backstabbing her own sister and killing her.

However, this would have consequences.

What she would be doing would be an even greater betrayal than ooo—o- selling critical information to the enemies. She could also feel that her own subordinates would lose trust in her if she went as far as actively killing a sister who was discovered to be alive.

It would disrupt her authority and definitely break her alliance with the Virus Faction. She already knew that her political opponent would use this to further damage her agenda for war, and it would be very effective. With tensions already brewing between the Pluralist Faction and hers, it could potentially lead to a civil war, which would be utterly catastrophic.

”Damn. You!” she gritted her pincers.

In truth, even the destruction of her civilization was worth Transcendent impunity, but Rui had already anticipated that. That was why he offered an alternative.

”Destroying Gaia does nothing for you,” Rui said in a serious voice. ”What you want... is up here.”

He tapped the side of his head before taking a stance; his expression growing fierce.

”Come and get it.”

CLICK CLICK CLICK!

”Very. Well!” She hatefully acquiesced.

But this time, all of them turned not towards Rui, but towards Argenton.

”We. Will. Extract. The. Secret. No. Matter. What!”

[Oh come on!] Argenton complained with a grave expression, glaring at Rui with a fierce expression.

He would rather the Divine Mothers destroy Gaia than be targeted by six of them.

RUMBLE!!!!!

The six of them charged towards Argenton with perfect coordination, overlapped minds, and amplified Verses. The Webslinger arrived first, having catapulted herself forth with her webs.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

[Rgh!] Argenton’s solid light body broke apart with a single blow. If he had had a mechanical body, that would have been the end right then and there. But thankfully, light could be regenerated rather quickly.

However, even before he could regenerate it, another well-timed follow-up almost immediately after the first attack resulted in the Shredder launching a perfectly spaced net that would slice up all the light in his body, save for his crystalline lattice brain and the instruments surrounding it.

Almost immediately after came an incapacitating attack from the Netweaver designed to capture and immobilize his technological systems, while the Mindstitch also arrived to finally infiltrate it.

They were so extraordinarily and impossibly well-coordinated that they pulled all of that off in less than a nanosecond, before any of the Transcendents could reach Argenton.

”NO!” Rui charged forth, activating a wormhole through hypedimensional reality. The very pinnacle of shortened motion.

And yet, he wasn’t fast enough.

The Mindstitch’s eyes lit up as her mind fully infiltrated that of Argenton. With her Verse amplified, she could effortlessly penetrate his efforts at defense, whether it was encryption or isolation, and even memory division.

She acquired it.

She acquired the secret.

The secret to Transcendent impunity.

And because they were in a hive mind, the others acquired the secret of Transcendent impunity as well.

The secret was astonishing and horrifying. It was no different suicide in one sense. And yet, they understood that the material didn’t matter. Identity, consciousness, and existence... was all information at its very root.

If this was the price of Transcendent impunity, then they were very much willing to achieve it.

”Now. Our. Power. Shall. Be. Eternal!”

Rui’s expression tightened with grim severity.

He had no choice.

He closed his eyes, preparing his ultimate trump card.

It would destroy everything within the solar system, but it would save the rest of human civilization.

Just as every drop of blood within his body rushed towards his brain, a familiar female voice emerged, reverberating through past, present, and future.

”T???h????a????t???? ???? w????o????n????’???t??? ????? b???e???? ???? n???e?????c???e????s????s?????a???r???y????.”

Her long, flowing hair had grown longer than she was tall over the many years she had spent in the manifold. Her amber eyes loomed with a profound depth that Rui was unable to fathom. As if she had seen things that he hadn’t. That he wouldn’t.

Her presence had always been powerful, but now it had elevated to a whole other level.

Now, it was Transcendent.

His ethereal eyes widened with pure bewilderment and ecstasy as her name escaped his lips.

”...Amare.”

Yet, she had no eyes for him.

Her intense eyes shifted towards the Mindwebber with a profound bloodlust.

WHOOSH

In the blink of an eye, she arrived before the Divine Mother, her palm charging towards the Divine Mother at speeds that even Rui could barely fathom.