The Martial Unity

Chapter 2475: You Choose

RUMBLE…

The air in the Kandrian Empire boiled tumultuously and each and every Martial Artist was grim.

They all knew exactly what was coming by now. And now there was only an hour left before it arrived.

All preparations that were humanly possible within a day had already been completed. The citizens of the Kandrian Empire had already all been evacuated into shelters and bases that the Emperor of Harmony had prepared before the third Great East Panamic War began. Thanks to being evacuated by the final battle between the Sages, there was no hassle that the Kandrian Empire had to face in keeping them evacuated.

This allowed for a smoother preparation for the receiving of the beast tide.

VMMM…

The siege weapons of the Kandrian Empire were on standby, already activated and warmed up, ready to launch their destructive attacks at any moment.

The Martial Artists were ready, too. The Martial Sages waited at the westernmost point on the Kandrian border where they would be dispatched soon enough to intercept the beast tide at its forefronts. The Martial Masters, Seniors, Squires, Apprentices as well as the Kandrian infantry were progressively stationed further to the north and the south.

Within the Kandrian Empire, the special corps comprising of augmented commandos were stationed in an internal perimeter. Their goal was to intercept all the monsters and beasts that might just very well happen to slip by the siege weapons and the army of Martial Artists. All to ensure that the citizens of the nation were as safe as possible.

”I will be fighting a little ahead and away from the rest of the Martial Masters,” Rui began with a calm tone as he arrived before the strategists and tacticians who were not entirely pleased by the deviation from the established strategy.

”…May we know why, Your Highness?” they asked with a hesitant tone.

”Because I cannot avoid catching the other Martial Masters in friendly fire,” Rui reminded them. ”If and when I use that technique, I will end up paralyzing our own Martial Masters.”

They regarded his reasoning with wariness.

It was sound, of course.

Yet, they were not pleased with it. ”Your Highness… you are too important to the Kandrian Empire. You cannot go off by yourself and enter an endless flood of beasts and monsters. If you die, the Kandrian Empire will be devastated!”

”We have Ieyasu now.” Rui shrugged, ”The Kandrian Empire no longer needs me that desperately.”

”Still, Your Highness! It may be the case that if you die we will not be able to trigger all the breakthroughs we need to survive in the long term! Tokugawa Ieyasu has already informed us of the considerable constraints he faces when he has to copy you of all people!”

Rui shrugged. ”Itʼs not damning. Besides, what would you have me do? Fight alongside other Martial Masters who will be paralyzed and end up dying? Fifty percent of them will be paralyzed, based on previous data. That is no different from getting one hundred and twenty four of our Martial Masters killed in combat. Do you want that?”

They gritted their teeth inwardly. ”Your Highness, you are more important than a hundred and twenty-four Martial Masters, if push comes to shove.”

”Then let us ensure that we neither push nor shove.” Rui smirked. ”Simple, isnʼt it?”

The strategic task force comprising of military and Martial strategists from the Royal Army and the Martial Union wanted to tear their hair out at his flippant attitude.

Unfortunately, they had no choice but to take a highly deferent attitude towards him as the third most powerful person in all of Kandria.

”Tell you what…” A smile came over Ruiʼs face. ”I changed my mind.”

They lit up at his words. ”We knew you were a reasonable man, Your Highness—”

”I will fight with the Sages.”

Their jaws dropped at his words as they shook where they stood.

They didnʼt expect him to utter something so unbelievably crazy, so much so that they just stared at him with a dumbfounded expression.

”…Your Highness, thatʼs too dangerous!”

”You cannot fight Sage-level beasts, no matter how strong you are!”

”You will die if you get too close to Martial Sages when they are exerting their full strength!”

Rui shrugged. ”Itʼs either I fight alone, all by myself with no one to protect me or get me to safety if Iʼm injured or in critical condition, or I fight with the Sages. Iʼll let you guys pick which one. See? Iʼm so generous and reasonable.”

If he didnʼt have all the political and Martial power that he did, they would have already leaped at his throat.

They felt their heart rates and blood pressures rising at the absurd choices that the Void Prince had given them.

On top of that, they would be taking partial responsibility and liability if they made a choice and something went awry. Rui smiled with a hint of amusement as he could sense the building resentment within them with his mind sense. ”Well, we donʼt have all day, literally. We have less than an hour. So what is it going to be?”

”…Please join the Martial Sages, Your Highness. They cannot protect you, but if something happens to you, they will be able to swiftly have you retreated to the Kandrian Empire in an instant.”

They would rather not have him be anywhere near such a horrifically dangerous and perilous battlefield, but it was still preferable to him fighting alone all by himself, completely isolated from the Kandrian Martial Artists. ”Hm, good choice.” Rui smiled. ”I hope that you remember that this is entirely your choice and not mine. Alright, goodbye, time to go meet up with the Martial Sages. You bear full liability for what might happen, not me.”

He sauntered around the taskforce nonchalantly, leaving the strategists and tacticians with gritted teeth and clenched fists.

They could help but feel that they had somehow been conned and deceived.

Regardless, the decision had been made.

RUMBLE!

The beast tide was soon to come.

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