The Martial Unity

To say the Masters were shocked was an understatement.

They were absolutely dumbfounded by the Harbinger’s sudden breakthrough on the battlefield while on the verge of death.

However, upon a second look, it wasn’t entirely shocking.

It was already known that Martial Masters had a higher chance of breaking through while on the verge of death. On top of that, the Harbinger had been one of the absolute strongest Martial Masters in all of East Panama. This meant that she had undoubtedly crossed the threshold of relative power, where her power had allowed her to learn more about herself. On top of that, she had lost consciousness. If there was a chance that her last thoughts when losing consciousness had been about who she was, then there was a possibility that she had also utilized the dream technique to learn more about herself when unconscious.

Thus, in that regard, it wasn’t too shocking that she had managed to break through. However, the revelation still shook the Masters where they stood as they helped the Harbinger by feeding her physical rejuvenation and nutrition-dense food pills.

RUMBLE…

The Masters felt the domineering weight of the four Martial Sages who descended before them.

The three Kandrian Sages were particularly pleased by the sight of Sage Sera.

“You’ve finally gained Enlightenment of Self.” The Flickering Elder smiled at her. “I used to fear that at this rate, you were going to shut yourself off forever.”

Sage Sera slowly got up after finally having healed her wound entirely. “…It wasn’t by choice. If not for him… I wouldn’t have broken through.”

The three frowned at her words. “Him?”

“…The Master who defeated me.”

Their eyes widened with surprise at her words.

With the Harbinger participating in the battle, the Martial Sages had already written off the Master-level battle as a victory. In a one-on-one battle, she was an absurdly powerful force who was almost unbeatable by any of her peers. Her victories against other peak Masters had proven that she was the very best of the best, and she had only grown stronger thanks to the resources of the Kandrian Empire.

To hear that she was defeated in a head-on battle by a single enemy Master was beyond surprising.

“…Well, I’m just glad that it wasn’t an enemy Master who broke through,” the Sloth Sage remarked. “I know that this isn’t what you wanted, but it is still a matter of celebration.”

“Hehehe, now that you have broken through, we can have lots of fun,” the Drunk Dame grinned at Sage Sera as she pulled out a bottle of what was clearly alcohol.

Despite the kind words of the Martial Sages, Sage Sera remained consumed in her thoughts. Not about herself.

But about him. Her eyes narrowed as she recalled his words.

Your death would be unconducive to my objectives.

She didn’t understand.

Wasn’t he supposed to be the enemy?

He even led an enemy platoon of Masters into battle. That was a remarkably high level of authority within the ranks of the Joint Alliance military. Yet, for some reason, he had felt the need to let her live when he could have easily killed her.

He had indeed spared her vitals when assimilating her Body. Had he chosen to consume her heart, then she would have died even as a Martial Sage. This was more than just simply letting her live; he had gone so far as to ensure that he minimized the harm she suffered.

She didn’t understand what his agenda was.

All she knew was that this had been beyond mere pity for her or some strange spontaneous sense of kinship with her after their battle had ended.

He had made a calculated decision.

“…I need to speak with the three of you and the Emperor about an important matter immediately.” Sage Sera glanced at them. The three Sages of Kandria felt the weight of her words, immediately acquiescing.

The atmosphere was positive nonetheless.

After all, the Kandrian Empire had gained a new Sage.

The gap between the Kandrian Empire and the enemy alliance was reduced by yet another step. Now, the enemy alliance only had eight Martial Sages more than the Kandrian Empire. Of course, eight Martial Sages still represented an enormous amount of Martial power, but it was still not enough to achieve anything better than a devastating pyrrhic victory. The Kandrian Empire’s goal was to ensure that the enemy alliance was unable to widen the gap enough and now they had taken one more step in that direction.

It was also good news for the Selizantar Kingdom, which was now protected by an additional Sage.

All in all, they had gained much. It wasn’t long before the Martial Artists collected the bodies of the Martial Masters who had unfortunately perished in battle and returned to the Selizantar Empire. Once the most immediate matters were dealt with, the Harbinger finally got the private audience she desired.

“Before you begin…” The projection of Emperor Rael smiled. “Congratulations on breaking through to the Sage Realm. I am aware that you have faced your challenges and perhaps have your misgivings over what has happened, but this is a truly wonderful development for me as well as the Martial Union. It is our sincere hope that you will be able to overcome the challenges you might encounter in the Sage Realm.”

She smiled back at Emperor Rael ruefully. “Thank you. But more importantly. I need to tell you about him. I must tell you about the man who defeated me.”

Emperor Rael and the three Sages of the Kandrian Empire calmly listened to her talk, wondering what had gotten her so worked up about a single Master.

Then, she told them about his Martial Embodiment and their expressions stiffened.

Then, she told them about his Martial Art and their eyes widened with shock.

They listened with rapt attention as she described with great detail how he had not only copied her Martial Art and Martial Embodiment but also improved and evolved it with other Martial Arts.

And by the time she was finished, the air grew silent.

“A Martial Art that can copy other Martial Arts…” Emperor Rael’s expression grew grave. “It could ruin everything.”

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