The Martial Unity

It was time for Rui to depart.

He exited the Royal Throne Hall, heading out to the convoy that waited for him down below. It was comprised of many identically armored carriages; each layered with the most powerful and taxing anti-sensory esoteric technology of such immense potency that not even Martial Sages could peer through them. Not even Rui’s Riemannian Echo was able to pry the truth past their unrelenting barriers.

On the other side were a team of maids, butlers, and assistants who were prepared to serve the charges in any way that was necessary. They immediately bowed their head in protocol once The descended the steps.

However, what drew his attention were the three Martial Sages who stood down below in wait for him.

Sage Damian looked miffed that he had been deployed to babysit someone who may as well have been a brat, while the Hugging Hegemon looked bored. Only the Flashing Flier appeared to be amicable with the current circumstances.

Regardless, their immensely powerful auras, which seemed to weigh down on the world around them, relieved him of his safety.

“Your Sagehoods.” Rui bowed his head lightly in respect for his superiors. “I am honored to be protected by the Fire Sect and a leader of the Lightning Sect.”

Sage Roschem, the Flashing Flier, smiled at Rui’s deference. “Glacken was dispatched on emergency to the Central Martial Consortium, one of the Martial Union’s greatest allies, that has come under attack from the enemy alliance. I will be taking up his duty of protecting you. Rest assured, you are in good hands.”

Rui nodded. “I most certainly am, by the way…”

He glanced at the large convoy of carriages. “…Are so many carriages necessary, or am I correct that these are part of an elaborate decoy plan?”

“…We had initially decided to take a covert route, but your father was against it,” the Flashing Flier replied. “He said that it would reflect badly on the Kandrian Empire if we had to hide in fear of our enemies when we were trying to convince the world that we were confidently able to win. A more palatable strategy is to have multiple identical carriages, each armed with anti-sensory measures taking vastly different routes to ensure that any hopes of an attack are futile so long as our enemies do not know which carriage we are.”

Rui stirred at his words. “That makes sense. Not as ideal as a covert dispatch, but not bad either.”

The enemy alliance was not going to spend the time and Martial manpower that was needed to identify which carriage contained Rui and which didn’t. It was a waste as they would spread their forces too thin because even if they did find their carriage by doing so, the three powerful Martial Sages would wipe out the diluted forces that sought to kill Rui.

In other words, as long as they didn’t know ahead of time which carriage he was in, it was a waste to even bother.

In fact, he knew both his father and the strategic outlook on the war, and he knew that man would have loved it if his enemies had been foolish enough to try and hunt Rui down aggressively.

It would mean a significant redirection of the Martial manpower away from the war, allowing the Kandrian Empire to consolidate and make more progress in earning new allies.

“Tsk,” Sage Damian tutted impatiently. “Tricks. We should face whatever they throw head- on! I alone am enough to rip all their heads off and shove it up their ass!”

“Seconded.” The Hugging Hegemon expressed her approval of his sentiments.

“Ignore these two, Master Rui. You will only damage your precious intellect trying to engage with them,” he scoffed. “It is time to depart, so let us not delay this any further.

RUMBLE…

The three Martial Sages exerted their power as they manipulated heaven and earth to hide the convoy of carriages from the world before selecting one at random and sitting inside. Immediately, the servant teams occupied the other carriages.

Soon enough, the convoy was dispatched, taking off in the air.

Rui squirmed in his seat as he realized that he would be spending a lot of time with the three Martial Sages.

Given that they were the bodyguard of an extremely important dignitary in the Kandrian Empire, they could not afford to not be by his side or at least close by. On top of that, the carriage was extremely spacious and luxurious, so he didn’t feel particularly stuffy.

However, he had just realized that each of the Martial Sages was related to his friends in some way or another.

The Flashing Flier was Fiona’s father, and the Hugging Hegemon was Fae’s grandmother. Sage Damian, of course, was Kane’s father.

He felt rather awkward with the silence knowing this. He wasn’t sure how he was supposed to interact with them, considering that he normally interacted with them very formally. But it was not easy to maintain that outside of formal circumstances.

“The talks with the Shionel Confederation are extremely important to the future of the Kandrian Empire,” the Flashing Flier began. “From what I understand, having spoken to the Emperor, it is not an exaggeration to say that the outcome of these talks will affect the future of the war extremely significantly.”

Rui nodded, growing more serious. “That is indeed the case, Your Sagehood.”

“I’m not doubting your well-demonstrated competence; however, I hope that you will do your best to secure the best outcome for the Kandrian Empire.”

“I most certainly will, Your Sagehood.”

He waved his hand dismissively. “Dispense with the formalities. You are my daughter’s childhood friend, after all. You may as well be family.”

Rui had to suppress a wince. “I am indeed friends with Fiona, sir. We’ve known each other since the Martial Contest that I participated in. It is unfortunate that neither of us has been able to spend too much time with each other outside of infrequent get-togethers. But alas, such is life.”