The Martial Unity

Chapter 3473: Five Days

They found themselves at an impasse already. Though Rui was not surprised that they did, considering that they didn’t have the exact same priorities at every level.

He tried to go for another approach. ”Do you truly want me to use Authority of Alpha against therianthropes? That’s a lot of power. How do you know that I won’t use it against you?”

Lord Vakratunda smiled with a hint of amusement.

”Because you asked that question. If you truly had any intentions of doing that, you wouldn’t fight so hard against using the Authority of Alpha against our people. You’re just saying this because you want to fight the Dragon Emperor, which is your true motivation.”

Rui was surprised that he was willing to put so much faith in game theory. It was entirely possible that Rui would use his Authority of Alpha to enslave the continent, but for some reason, Lord Vakratunda didn’t seem too concerned over the matter.

Rui shook his head. ”Fighting with the Dragon Emperor is something that I’m not willing to yield on. The truth of the matter is that even though I have come to you, you need me more than I need you. I’m the only one who can break the spell of the Dragon Emperor over the therianthropes of Kiriket. But there are other forces in the world that can stall the War Coalition from reaching the Dragon Emperor so that I can fight with him alone.”

Lord Vakratunda was not so easily moved, unfortunately. ”If that truly is the case, then feel free to go to them. I do not believe that you can easily get them to agree to holding back the might of the War Coalition that easily. The fact of the matter is that we both need each other for this to work.”

Rui huffed with an exasperated sigh, shaking his head. ”If Authority of Alpha is the reason you want me to stop the War Coalition, then I’m afraid you overestimate me. I can neutralize the Dragon Emperor’s authority, but the fact of the matter is that the War Coalition will still fight for him. I know he uses his Authority of Alpha liberally, but are you really going to pretend that there isn’t a massive population within Kiriket that voluntarily follows him? There are many powerful leaders on their side below him who can resist his power like you do, right? Why haven’t any of them rebelled?”

Lord Vakratunda remained silent at those words as he fell into thought while Rui continued.

”The simple truth of the matter is that even if I break his spell, a civil war is inevitable. You therianthropes have brought this upon yourself with your immense internal divisions. I highly doubt it even is that difficult to believe, considering that all of the species of the true world have some internal conflict to varying degrees. Too many of you therianthropes want to go to war, partially over me, but also out of greed for the resources of our continent.”

Rui shrugged. ”They’re not going to give up on this without a struggle, regardless of whether I fight the Dragon Emperor or the War Coalition.”

Lord Vakratunda could have stubbornly denied the truth of Rui’s words, but he chose not to. The fact of the matter was that the fever of war had come over the therianthropes of Kiriket when they learned of the exotic beasts and monsters of the Lost Continent and the outsider who had the power of the Authority of Alpha.

They feared that Rui would use the Authority of Alpha to control them against their will and thus his death needed to occur no matter what, something that entailed the destruction of the Panama Continent since he was a leader of human civilization.

”If I use Authority of Alpha to control them from waging war, then I would be validating the very reason they want to wage war, wouldn’t I?” Rui remarked with a serious tone. ”I do not wish to allow them to believe that they were accurate about everything that they believed. I would much rather show them that I’m not going to use my Authority to try to mind control sovereign individuals of a different species.”

Lord Vakratunda heaved a deep breath, moved by Rui’s words. ”You are indeed wise, Dawnbringer. While I’m not blind to your motivations for speaking those words, I still recognize the truth that lies within them. Indeed, if I allow you to use your Authority against them. Then I would be validating their greatest fears and their very reason to wage war. As bloody as it will be, the clan and faction that I lead and I will have to be the ones to stop the War Coalition from intervening in your battle with the Dragon Emperor. Therefore...”

His elephantine eyes bore deep into Rui’s.

”I accept your proposition. You may be the one to fight the Dragon Emperor. I can only hope that your confidence is not misplaced, Dawnbringer.”

Rui nodded. ”Leave him to me.”

Rui was glad that they could agree that Rui would be the one to fight the Dragon Emperor. It would be really troublesome if they couldn’t find any common ground on this matter, he would have to reconsider cooperating with the Dragon Emperor at all. He also didn’t want to force the issue by attacking the Dragon Emperor and leaving the Harmonist Faction to deal with a vengeful War Coalition.

It would be better if they could do everything in their power to work together in dealing with warmongers led by a tyrant dragon that wanted to control the entire world, starting with his own continent.

”I do not wish to delay dealing with this problem,” Lord Vakratunda remarked. ”The Dragon Emperor and the War Coalition already suspect that you are on this continent due to all the anomalies that you set off when you came in. And there is only one place that you would go if you were here, which is, of course, the abode of the Gajanan Clan. Thus, we should aim to complete our operation as soon as possible. In, for example...”

His elephantine eye grew serious.

”Five days.”