The Martial Unity

2937  Strategic Considerations

The preparations for the final battle into the very center of the Beast Domain soon commenced as the Martial Sages accepted his decision without much of a fuss. Aside from Damian, none of them were particularly eager to jump into the center of the Beast Domain without adequate preparation.

What commenced was extensive planning.

In a large open gathering, Rui stood before all the Martial Sages. Some were seated on the ground, others sat on rocks, while many were content simply standing further back. They gathered with their respective groups and nations, but the lines were more blurred than before. Many of these Sages, who were once sworn enemies, had grown less confrontational and hostile with each other. Martial Sages of the Kandrian Empire found themselves sitting next to those from the Republic of Gorteau, Britannian Empire, and the Sekigahara Confederate.

Sage Shinken found himself sitting not too far from the likes of Sage Damian and Kane, the latter of whom had caused great damage to the Sekigahara Confederate with his extermination of almost all the retreating Martial Masters of the Sekigahara Confederate. The wars they waged against each other were negligible in significance to the battles that they had waged in the past ten years to protect human civilization from the wrath of the quasi-Transcendent beasts and monsters.

It hadnʼt been easy, but slowly, their psychologies had shifted over a decade of fighting by each otherʼs side against the Beast Domain. ”We do not know what manner of enemy we will be facing,” Rui replied. ”Unfortunately, we have no way of knowing either. My grandmother and I have tried our very best peering into the future of this battle, as has Sage Atrous Silas.”

Rui directed a nod of acknowledgment to the second Martial Sage of the Silas Clan, having broken through to the Sage Realm after decades of spending time in the Kandrian Empire and making the best of all the resources it had to offer. Sage Atrous nodded back with deep respect and admiration to the Antithesis as his long locked hair swayed with the gesture, his body was garbed only with pelts fashioned from the fur of Heavenly Griffons and other quasi-Transcendent beasts and monsters.

His breakthrough to the Sage Realm meant that there were three Martial Sages with the power of prophecy.

”And not a single one of us has been able to scry what awaits us in the depths of the Gu,” Rui informed with a grim expression. ”That is why I will be formulating a series of battle formations and strategies to be adopted depending on the nature of our opponent, things like its volume, mass, speed, and power, itʼs constitution and endurance, itʼs genetic abilities and the categories that they can fall into and whatnot. Be prepared because it will be nothing short of a system of thought for all of you.”

Some of the Martial Sages stiffened at that.

They knew how difficult the Dawnbringerʼs systems of thought could be, just the Hellbringer Model, a very diluted and simplified version of the Tree of Life was beyond anything that they had ever experienced in their entire lives.

Rui turned towards the Martial Sages of the Hive, their numbers cut down to merely eight after the devastating losses suffered in the Beast Domain against the abyssfeeder that he had culled.

”We will receive training on coordination and teamwork from none other than the Martial Sages of the Hive that specialize in this field,” Rui explained, ”this will help us be able to execute the different strategies that I will be covering. Rest assured that you will mostly be expected to coordinate with the groups that you belong in while those of you Martial Sages that come from nations without too many other Sages will be grouped with some of your other peers.”

Many of the gathered Martial Sages stirred at his words. A large portion of all the Martial Sages came from Sage-level nations with only one or two of them, leaving them no choice but to work with their other cohorts.

”Would it not be better to divide us by the fundamental fields of Martial Art?” Elder Diana of the Heaven Sect remarked, sitting midair on a cushion of heaven. ”There would be a more specialized division of labor, would there not be?”

Rui shook his head. ”That would form in overly large cohorts of Martial Sages that would make them much more vulnerable. The overspecialization would deprive them of a balance of offense, defense, and maneuvering. You want groups that can attack, defend, and also arenʼt large enough to become easy targets. Not to mention, you will not coordinate with strangers as well as you will with your own fellow Sages. Furthermore…”

Rui directed a sweeping gaze across all the groups of the gathered Martial Sages. ”If we divide by Martial fields enough, we will naturally end up at the groupings we have now. For instance, our best earthbenders are gathered in the Nest of Terra while our best heavenbenders are in the Heaven Sect, our best lightbenders, barring the Boundless Light, are in the Solaris Kingdom, and so and so forth. Itʼs best not to disrupt the natural groupings frivolously, doing so will increase the chances that our coordination as a large group will go to hell.”

None of the Martial Sages objected with that, they, too, would rather have spent time with their peers than strangers.

”If weʼre going to train for a year, why do we not utilize the manifold of the Kandrian Empire?” Blood Lord Vrukshus asked with raised eyebrows. ”We would get fourteen years, would we not?”

”You would, but the Kandrian Empire is not equipped to train our coordination and our teamwork,” Rui replied. ”It cannot help us fight better against a single target as hundreds of Martial Sages. For one, it was never made to accommodate such an enormous number of Martial Sages, and it certainly cannot help us train coordinating all of them in the battlefield. It wouldnʼt work. And I do not want to shift the mindsets that we have all cultivated in the Beast Domain for the Beast Domain over the past ten years. We will remain here and not return until we have completed our final task.”