The Martial Unity

2448  Last One Standing

News of the dozens of simultaneous and coordinated assassinations in the middle of an Alliance Summit spread across East Panama like a shockwave. It spread across all sectors and strata of the human civilization of the eastern side of the Panama Continent.

[Dozens of leaders assassinated simultaneously!]

[Members of the East Panamic Treaty Alliance brazenly assassinated in the East Panamic Summit!]

[Military analysts unanimously point the finger to the Kandrian Empire!]

It couldn’t be hidden.

An enormous commotion was evoked across each of the victim nations, drawing immense attention.

Once the world learned of the full extent of the sheer number of assassinations and the circumstances that unfolded with it, it became evidently clear exactly who was responsible for each of those deaths.

The Kandrian Empire was the only power in the world that had the motive and incentives to assassinate all the leaders of the enemy alliance and the only one with the ability to do so. The entire political sphere shuddered with fear as they read intelligence reports detailing the deaths of these powerful political figures.

Killed by their very own bodyguards.

Every politician’s nightmare.

As people of power, there were countless forces that sought to kill them. The only thing standing between them and death were their own bodyguards. They could only focus on their work without worrying about dying because they trusted the bodyguards trying to protect them. Yet, after what had happened with the enemy alliance, the chilling realization that the Kandrian Empire could effortlessly flip bodyguards into their very own assassins gave them goosebumps.

It gave the illusion that the Kandrian Empire could execute this form assassination anytime they ever wanted, increasing the entire world’s evaluation of how lethal and dangerous the Kandrian Empire was. This was especially the case for the undecided Sage-level and Master-level powers of East Panama. They had been on the verge of joining the East Panamic Treaty Alliance out of fear of suffering the same destruction as what the Shionel Confederation had suffered.

And yet, in that very meeting, they learned to fear the Kandrian Empire just as much as, if not even more than, the East Panamic Treaty Alliance.

Each of them had heard the message the Kandrian Empire had sent with those coordinated assassinations loud and clear.

Whichever force dared to join the East Panamic Treaty Alliance would be the first one to succumb to an assassination of their own. This was too terrifying of a threat for most of these cowardly leaders. They couldn’t even trust their own bodyguards any more in fear of the thought that they had been compromised by the Kandrian Empire!

In reality, they hadn’t.

Master Reina was efficient and fast, but she was not omnipresent. She couldn’t compromise all bodyguards of all leaders and rulers everywhere. Emperor Rael had only limited himself to choosing nations that were guaranteed to become his enemies during the war for allies. Thus, the undecided nations in the middle were actually completely safe if they chose to join the East Panamic Treaty Alliance at this juncture.

However, they didn’t know that. And that was the purpose that Emperor Rael had in mind when setting up all these one-time assassinations ahead of time.

Killing the leaders themselves was actually not important.

These were nations that were fundamentally under the control of the three enemy Sage-level powerhouses. Prime Minister Edward would just replace the dead leaders with another  obedient puppet.

What was devastating, however, was the shattered image of power and formidability of the East Panamic Treaty Alliance. What couldn’t be fixed was the terror that the undecided powers in the middle had come to experience at the idea of joining the enemy alliance.

This was the Kandrian Empire’s bluff.

And it worked.

Convincing these politicians that the Kandrian Empire had already infiltrated their ranks and was just waiting for them to join the enemy so that they could have them murdered was exactly what Emperor Rael had been hoping for. The political atmosphere of East Panama boiled as the final remaining portion of undecided allies felt a horrifying amount of pressure mounting on them. On one side they were dealing with a demon in the guise of a politician. A man who promised them an apocalypse of tragedies similar to what the Shionel Confederation had suffered if they dared to join the Kandrian Empire.

On the other side, they were confronted by an angel who had revealed his true nature as someone who could be equally scary and terrifying. Their deaths were imminent if they dared to join the East Panamic Treaty Alliance. They could even picture their own assassinations—being stabbed in the back by their bodyguard or any other official dignitary that they had once trusted.

In that moment, each and every single one of those leaders regretted becoming politicians in the first place. They would have chosen a different path in life had they known that their current path would splinter into two, both of which led to death and suffering.

The tense deadlock between the two sides of the war grew ever more taut and drawn out as both sides struggled to pull at the remaining available powers.

The East Panamic Treaty Alliance had been on the very edge of securing all the power it needed to wipe the Kandrian Empire clean from the maps, and Emperor Rael’s final trump card had been finally played, negating the greatest effects of the investigative reports on the decision-making process of the remaining powers.

Prime Minister Edward furiously pulled at the rope, struggling to accrue the necessary Martial Sages, yet Emperor Rael didn’t let go.

“The Queen of Donwen has refused your appointment for a meeting, sir.”

“The Council of Papal has ignored our messages, sir.”

“The Patriarch of the Farymeather Family has announced its neutrality in this war.”

“…Damn them all.” Prime Minister Edward’s expression crumpled with fury. “A whole year of mental anguish in order to catch them off-guard… only for that bastard to pull another trump card.”

His assistants exchanged nervous glances as the air boiled with emotion.

His eyes grew bloodshot as he stared at his hands with gnawing frustration.

A single question escaped him. “…Why can’t I win?”

He wanted to win.

So badly.

And yet, Tokugawa Ieyasu betrayed him.

His grand scheme ground to halt as his enemy exposed one final Trump Card.

Time after time, he couldn’t achieve it.

“Why… can’t I win?” He gazed at his hands with blood-curdling frustration. He wanted a perfect victory.

He wanted a dominant victory.

He wanted a painless victory.

And he was unwilling to settle for less.

And yet, he couldn’t have it.

He gritted his teeth as he clenched his fists as his eyes grew blood-red with rage.

“If I can’t have a perfect victory…” a whisper escaped him. “Then I’ll to settle for a pyrrhic one.”

Murderous vengeance lit up on his face. “I will be the last one standing, Rael.”

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