The Martial Unity

Chapter 3654: Dismayed Reaction

”That... makes sense.” Amare nodded. ”The Divine Doctor told me about his whole ’Gaia is alive and ill’ shtick several centuries ago, before the Age of Martial Art, when I was still spreading Martial Art across the continent as Esil. At the time, I just laughed him off and moved on, but to think that centuries later, this epiphany of his would turn out to be largely true.”

”Well, I still don’t know if it’s true, especially the living part. But the ill part is metaphorically true,” Rui remarked. ”And it is imperative that we find a way to fix it. It’s what the Divine Doctor has been attempting to do for centuries, but as brilliant and able as he is, even he can’t possibly fix a planet as enormous and exotic as Gaia by himself. He needs help.”

”That’s why you took him to Mother Maeria!” Amare’s amber eyes lit up with realization. ”You told me that she experiences the Transcendent Fear or whatever.”

”She did.” Rui nodded. ”She’s an invaluable ally. We also have the World Serpent, who will likely agree to help us when the Divine Doctor and Mother Maeria reach out to him. This is a serpent that has chosen to paralyze itself to protect Gaia; there’s no doubt it will be deeply unwilling to allow some alien virus to hurt the planet. We also have the Elder Tree, another significant ally. I recall that the tree described the early continent within the manifold as... ’broken’ to me a long time ago when I visited it with Kane. Its insights into this whole matter will be extremely useful. We might also be able to get Lord Vakratunda and the Ecologist on board with the project, too.”

In reality, the world was swimming with allies who could potentially be of great help. Rui was eager to harness them into one team, at least once he completed his current projects of power.

”You also have me,” she reminded him, pulling him closer, before kissing him on his neck.

”That, I do.” Rui smiled as he indulged in Amare’s warmth and scent, before wincing. ”...And also I have to tell you something that you’re not going to like.”

She immediately pulled away, staring into his eyes with a piercing gaze. ”You’re planning to go into a long session of isolated training, aren’t you?”

”...You know me that well, huh?”

She huffed, pushing him away. ”Go away, I don’t care what you do.”

”Oh, come on, don’t be like that.” Rui drew closer to her, spooning her smaller body with his. ”One of the original reasons I sought the Divine Doctor wasn’t actually about this whole Fear and Gaia’s illness matter at all, even though that was one of the biggest takeaways. The original reason I actually sought him was precisely because I needed his help with Project PluriBody, and now that I got it, I have a chance to realize it, I need to take it. For the sake of Project Water.”

She stiffened at those words. She had accepted that she could never be his highest priority, at most becoming a part of his grand ambition to adaptively evolve to any force in the world. But her Martial Drive was much more connected to him in comparison.

She pursued power to be strong to be with him, to ensure that they would be together, to ensure that nothing could ever separate them, the way they had been separated the first time by the Demon of Asmodeous.

Yet, when he pulled her close, she couldn’t help but melt in his warmth, eventually giving up as she turned around to reluctantly accept his embrace. ”...Fine. It’s going to be difficult to live a month or two without you, but I can bear it.”

Rui winced with a grim smile. ”...It’s going to be a lot more than a month, I’m afraid. More like more than a year.”

Her eyes widened at those words. ”Just how many years are you planning to spend in the manifold?”

”As many as needed,” Rui replied with a determined expression. ”You remember what Project PluriBody was about, right? You should understand how difficult it is.”

”Project Pluribody is... where you plan to replace half of your body with evosapien physiology to become a hybrid, right?”

Rui nodded. ”I want to do this while maintaining my mind and my identity, otherwise I might lose my Martial Soul in the process.”

She slowly nodded. ”...If you’re going to go make your half your body evosapien, then why not go ahead and make your entire body evosapien?”

”I won’t be able to maintain my Martial Path,” Rui explained. ”Paths may be strangely extra-causal in many ways, but one of the most well-known things about them is that they are materially connected. ”If I turn my entire body evosapien, then I will lose the foundation of Martial Art that I have had my entire life. The fifty percent of my body that will still be homo antithesis, as Mother Vyia would say, will serve as a core and the anchor for my Martial Path, to ensure that I retain my Martial Path while still making use of the adaptive evolution of evosapiens.”

”That makes sense. There’s no point in pursuing evosapien physiology if it causes you to lose everything that you have worked for your entire life. Are you sure you won’t lose half of your Martial Art by turning half your body into evosapien or anything like that?”

”Not at all, no. It’s hard to describe, but genetics is not the only variable that decides the path. The sol people and the people of the Hive are good examples of that; the former developed Martial Paths despite not being homo martialus, simply due to immense sociocultural and memetic osmosis. We essentially contaminated the sol people with our Martial Art and caused them to develop Martial Paths in the light-manipulation flavor because of how much Martial Art impacted them.”

He turned to her with an appreciative expression. ”The credit of that goes to you, of course, dear Esil. Our continent might have developed different paths if not for you traveling everywhere and spreading Martial Art everwhere.”