The Martial Unity

The leaders of the Kandrian Empire had gathered in the Kandrian Throne Hall.

Emperor Rael occupied his rightful throne while several Martial Sages and Masters had gathered before him. At their center was Matriarch Nephi.

A dark silence brooded in the atmosphere.

The tension was so palpable that one could cut it with a knife.

Over the day, the other Martial Sages had come to fully learn about what was to unfold.

It was difficult for them to accept that the most decisive battle of this war might very well end up being a Master-level battle.

Although Masters had ended up being the spearhead of the attacks of the enemy alliance, that was because Prime Minister Edward knew that he would suffer devastating losses if he had Martial Sages fighting life-or-death battles. Yet, despite being relegated to simply neutralizing and equalizing other Martial Sages, each Martial Sage was fully aware of the fact that they were the most decisive powers in this war.

Thus, when they learned that the battle between two Martial Masters could make or break the war, they simply couldn’t hide their curiosity.

Matriarch Nephi heaved a tired sigh.

Dark bags had formed under her eyes from the exhaustion of constantly abusing the Eye of Prophecy over the last few months. Emperor Rael had wrung the Silas Clan dry over the past few months in order to entirely neutralize the numeric gap between the Kandrian Empire and the East Panamic Treaty Alliance.

And now, she had been burdened with yet another important duty.

“Are you sure you want to do this without Rui present?” Matriarch Nephi asked with a stern tone. “It is most useful for him to directly witness the prophecy himself. I would rather do this a single time.”

Emperor Rael shook his head with a hint of exasperation. “Rui has refused any strategic and tactical aid, much to my chagrin. I tried rallying him over by mentioning how this copycat Martial Artist might consume a fruit from the Tree of Healings, but apparently… ‘he won’t,’ as Rui tells me. Regardless, I’m resigned to the fact that my son is not interested in gaining an advantage against his opponent.”

Emperor Rael had spent much time trying to get Rui to listen to reason and accept ways to supplement his combat power or gain what would be regarded as an unfair advantage, but his son had frustratingly shot all of his suggestions down.

In the end, Emperor Rael had simply given up on trying to convince him. “However, even if he isn’t interested in trying to learn the future of the battle, I most certainly am.” Emperor Rael’s eyes narrowed. “Show me, and don’t hold back. Show me everything.”

“Hmph, even though you know how painful the price of the Martial Soul is,” Matriarch Nephi snorted. “Well, let’s begin.”

RUMBLE…

The Matriarch activated her Martial Art as well as her Realms of power one after another. Heart was followed by Mind.

And the Soul was always present.

Sage Sayfeel protected the Emperor of Harmony from her Martial Embodiment as it bloomed in all its glory.

Her very existence morphed and changed into something else.

She became a multiverse unto herself.

It emerged from a single singularity.

Two men stood on a lone and barren battlefield.

Their black eyes peered into each other.

A myriad of possibilities emerged as the battle commenced, stretching far into the future. Each Martial Sage furiously studied them, trying to decipher whether victory or defeat was more probable.

Yet, the flux of information grew greater as the battle unfolded countless possibilities! It grew so much that not even the Martial Sages were unable to keep up, grimacing as they struggled to process the flood of information that the Celestial Seer’s technique unleashed upon them.

Emperor Rael watched with unadulterated shock as the Martial Sage, who had foreseen battles involving many Martial Masters and Martial Sages, exerted herself to the absolute limit to foresee the definitive future.

Yet, the Martial Embodiment simply continued branching out more and more without any sign of halting. Even the Martial Sage herself struggled to continue foreseeing the future as she foresaw an endless number of possible futures.

RUMBLE!

“Ngh…” Matriarch Nephi gritted her teeth as she pushed herself in the hopes of foreseeing the most likely outcome of this battle, even if she had already accepted that she would not see a definitive outcome.

Yet, with each passing moment, the number of possibilities only grew exponentially!

The Martial Sages shook where they stood as they gasped at the sheer weight of the battle between the two Martial Masters.

It was greater than they could have ever imagined.

And only expanded astronomically with each step.

It was endless

It was beyond even the power of a Martial Sage.

WHOOSH

The Martial Embodiment disappeared as Matriarch Nephi staggered unsteadily with an expression of grave severity.

For a moment, she herself was almost disoriented with shock.

For a moment, none of them could believe what had just happened.

For a moment, there was silence.

A single whisper escaped her.  “…I can’t.”

Emperor Rael’s eyes widened with shock. “Can’t…?”

Her expression crumpled with grim reckoning. “I am unable to foresee the outcome.”

Each person stared at her like she had just spoken an alien language.

They were unable to even parse the meaning of her words.

Their minds refused to.

They just stared at her with unadulterated shock.

“Each of them possesses an extraordinarily enormous Martial Art…” Her tone was somber. “Together, the possibilities… the futures, they may as well be infinite. It is like mixing two enormous oceans and then trying to foresee which direction each particle will go. However, that’s not all. If it had been just that, I would still have been able to foresee the broader trends and extrapolate the most likely outcome. The biggest issue is…”

Her expression grew incredulous at what she was about to say. “The futures of defeat and victory are symmetric. For every future where Rui gains an advantage, there exists a future where his opponent gains an advantage. Even if I were to abandon scrying a deterministic future, I’m still unable to draw even the slightest insight in regards to what might happen.”

Her eyes darkened. “In all my life, I have never seen anything like this. I suspect…”

She closed her eyes in resignation. “The entire world will be helpless victims to what is about to unfold.”

Her heavy words weighed down on the atmosphere.

The day of the fated battle drew closer.

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