The Martial Unity

Chapter 3815: The Courage of the Princess of Harmony

Princess Ru gazed at her elder brother with deep scrutiny, studying the Transcendent Candidate with an evaluating expression.

It was still difficult to imagine that she was actually standing in front of him, commanding the attention of the most powerful, influential, and esteemed figure in the entire continent.

She had been born shortly before the Era of Darkness. She had grown up in an era where Rui’s legend had already been defied by the active propaganda campaigns from the Beggar’s Sect back when they were still on good terms. Rui had spent most of the Era of Darkness outside Kandria, whether it was his voyage through human civilization or whether it was the eleven years he spent in the Beast Domain with the other Sages.

She hadn’t caught even a single glimpse of Rui Quarrier her entire life for that reason.

To her, he was a living myth.

One that everybody spoke of.

One that everybody praised, revered, and worshiped.

And yet, one that she had never actually seen in person her entire life. In that regard, he was no different from the invisible, distant, abstract gods worshiped by religions around the world.

Every single day of her life for as long as she could remember, it was Rui Quarrier this and Rui Quarrier that. They spoke of him as if he were a living deity in human form. At some point, when things got truly dire with the Beast Incursion, he had gained even more renown than the aloof Martial Transcendents.

Even her own father, the most respected ruler in the entire continent, would tell her how amazing Rui was.

”Rui is our hope,” he would tell her with a smile of deep trust and confidence lingering in the depths of her golden eyes. ”I’m certain he will help our civilization reach a higher state one day.”

She remembered being enchanted with his tales in her adolescent years. Like when he fought a Martial Sage despite only being a Martial Master. And then two more times again after. How he killed the Demon of Death and overcame death itself. How he led the greatest warriors of human civilization to victory against the Eldritch Chimera, a creature so monstrous and horrifying that mental health check-ups of the surviving Martial Sages revealed signs of PTSD.

He was the perfect hero.

But then, he returned.

He returned asleep, this time, in a time of great tumult caused by the unfolding manifold. The continent was invaded by the forces of the true world, and they found themselves scrambling, struggling to protect themselves.

It was the period of the Era of Unfolding that put her father under the greatest strain. He would spend entire nights sleepless as he struggled to protect his nation and his continent from forces that sought to conquer and pillage it of its esoteric treasures. This was when Princess Ru had stepped up, shedding her adolescence and becoming a woman of responsibility. She helped her father coordinate with parties across the entire continent as they struggled to hold back the incoming invasion.

While the other Martial Sages fought hard for a whole month, Rui had spent the entire time sleeping, only to end the crisis in the blink of an eye the moment he woke up, going as far as to best one of the top-ten powerhouses of the world, even if he was out of his prime.

It only fueled the legend of Rui Quarrier.

But by then, it was too late. She had begun shedding the man-made myth, legend, and archetype of Rui, embellished in the starry-eyed perception that people had of him, and gained access to confidential intelligence on the life of Rui Quarrier as a diplomatic official of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

She began to understand what he was truly like.

It wasn’t that the tales were lies and that he was the complete opposite of what people believed him to be. But he had deeply problematic tendencies that would not have been tolerated by anybody if not for his extraordinary contributions.

But many of the legends surrounding him, such as his feats against Martial Sages when he was still in the Master Realm, were sanitized. In reality, with each feat he performed, he also created diplomatic and political crises that their father worked day and night to clean up.

Like when he almost genocided the people of the Sekigahara Confederate with his extraordinary Martial Embodiment, having tried out his trump card for the first time. That was before he went on to attack his own hosts in their own nation. In a country that, at the time, was still partly hostile to the Kandrian Empire due to the war that had ensued not even a year prior.

The more she dug, the more she realized that he was not a saint nor a god. This was a man who prioritized his Martial Path over everything else. The so-called Project Water that she found incomprehensible took precedence most of the time, save for some exceptions here and there. She had dug deeper and deeper, learning more about him, until she found out about the truth of the Kandrian Throne War.

That was when she truly began to dislike him. To think he kept their nation in political instability for two years just to avoid ascending the throne, going as far as to travel to the Beast Domain and find the Divine Doctor. She had never seen a person refuse to accept the responsibility that was clearly destined for him.

Of course, she was aware of the fact that she would not have been born if he hadn’t done that, but it was still a sore point because of how immature his motivations struck her as.

”What a man-child of a Martial Artist,” she once remarked in front of her father after the invasion of the true world had been thwarted. ”People who worship him only worship his power. They have no idea how juvenile the man truly is.”

Emperor Rael had smiled at her wryly. ”Perhaps, but ultimately, he has chosen his path.”

”It’s a path that brings about as many as half of the tribulations he helps us overcome or the blessings that he gives our nation and civilization,” Princess Ru, then nineteen years old, couldn’t help but retort. ”He’s a loose cannon and an unreliable variable. One day, his unreliability will bring about great harm to our nation when we need him the most.”

”That is a risk that comes with all Martial Artists,” the Emperor of Harmony remarked with a wise tone. ”Do you think Damian was any better? Do you think he can be controlled any more than Rui? They cannot. Martial Artists are not soldiers who have been disciplined to obey. Martial Artists cannot be controlled, at least not by us. They can only be harnessed. Just as the flow of a river cannot be steered at will, it can still bring about great prosperity to the world around it, allowing nature and man to thrive. If you wish to become a good Empress and potentially succeed me once I abdicate my throne, then you will need to learn this truth in your bones, my daughter.”

She understood the essence of the truth that he conveyed to her. She understood that Martial Artists could not be subjugated. In fact, it was precisely because her father had accepted that truth centuries ago that the Kandrian Empire managed to avoid a civil war while all other nations had drowned in strife.

But, for some reason, she found it difficult to accept that rationale for Rui. Perhaps it was because of the impact that his legends had on her, with how highly she regarded him in her early years. She was unable to accept the truth of his many flaws the way she could for other Martial Artists.

On a rational level, she understood that she wasn’t being the most fair and that nobody could be a perfect human being, but something about him made it difficult to simply overlook his shortcomings.

”Abdicate your throne?” She had raised an eyebrow before shaking her head. ”I’m sorry, my dear father, but the probability of you making it off that throne alive is very low.”

Her golden eyes had borne deep into those of her father’s back then. ”I suspect that you will likely die a painful death. Perhaps because of the river that you cannot control in the form of your most esteemed son.”

Sage Sayfeel had directed a pointed glance at the young nineteen-year-old, causing her to shirk under his gaze.

Emperor Rael simply waved off his overprotective Sage bodyguard before directing a knowing smile at her daughter. ”For what it’s worth, I am inclined to agree. At the top of the list of the most likely causes of my death, Rui Quarrier is easily number one. But a painful death is a given for monarchs. More often than not, we exit the throne in a violent, excruciating manner, often exiting life along with the throne, than peacefully giving it up.”

He directed a deep gaze into her young, golden eyes. ”That is the resolve that every monarch worth their salt must have if they wish to rule a people and a nation. If you truly do aim for the throne, then you will need to learn to put aside your emotions of frustration when dealing with Martial Artists, especially your elder brother, and accept the very real likelihood of a painful death. A good Empress does not allow her ego, her pride, and her frustration to impede what needs to be done.”

Her hazy eyes returned to the present as her attention returned to her surroundings.

To the man she faced.

The Dawnbringer. The Void Prince. Her half-brother.

The air was electric with peril.

The atmosphere was frozen with terror.

The darkness of the night sky seemed to come alive, swallowing the entire royal funeral hall as even the noisy press remained utterly paralyzed with fear.

She had just uttered the most provocative statement she could cook up with all of her creativity, meant to trigger rage and hatred within Rui Quarrier. The statement could not be too crass and insulting; otherwise, it could be dismissed easily, so she toned down her hostility. At the same time, she ensured that the meaning of her words was deeply offensive to him, all so she could break him in that moment.

She felt her nerves tingle as she gazed into the depths of his unfathomable, ethereal eyes. In that moment, he could not be described as anything other than a god from a higher plane of existence. A tremendous amount of emotion weighed on her heart as it began pounding within her chest.

’This is what it comes down to.’

She was not stupid.

Even with all of the limitations that Rui had placed on himself, the probability of her victory was close to zero, a little under one percent based on the psephological models that she herself had computed.

Against all of the other princes and princesses, she was able to cook up more than one hundred paths to victory, depending on what her secondary goals and priorities were.

But against Rui Quarrier, she could conceive of only one possible path to victory. Reducing him to a complete and utter disgrace in front of the entire world in a moment of rage and hatred.

No other political strategy, overt or covert, diplomatic or militaristic, harmonious or discordant, could overcome the one they called the Dawnbringer.

In this moment, if he lost his temper, then he would likely do something extremely bad and foolish, which would ruin his credibility. As it was, the upper class of human civilization did not have the highest opinion of his reliability and responsibility, especially the cabinet of ministers who dealt with problems caused by his unreliability on a day-to-day basis.

If she could just break him in this moment, they would not put him on the throne.

She waited with bated breath as he opened his mouth.

”You have courage, Princess of Harmony.”