The Martial Unity

“Rrgghh…” Rui gritted his teeth as he winced.

A throbbing headache made him feel like his head was being split open. He felt his vision grow blurry as strength continuously left his Body.

Before him was a lake of blood.

Blood from all the corpses of the beasts and monsters that engaged the Martial Sages in combat.

And yet, they kept coming.

Rui couldn’t have imagined that the Central Highlands of the Beast Domain harbored such an astronomical amount of Sage-level beasts. However, given that there were entire zones filled with monsters of such power, it shouldn’t have come as a surprise that they could vastly outnumber the Martial Sages of human civilization.

Yet, that only made him more satisfied to know that he did indeed make a difference not just for the Martial Sages but for everybody. The easier he made their lives, the easier they could make the lives of other Martial Artists by taking on a greater portion of their burdens, which would eventually trickle down to relieve the burden on the infantry of the Kandrian Empire. “Enough.” The Devil’s voice was uncharacteristically calm and soft. “You’ve done enough.”

His gaze shifted back to the beast tide behind him. “We’ve gotten rid of all the incoming Sage-level beasts for now, thanks to your sabotage.”

THUD He turned back towards Rui. “Head back on inside and get some sleep. You’ve only just recovered from your battle a day prior.”

Rui frowned with confusion, unaccustomed to the uncharacteristic demeanor of the Devil.

Yet, he was gone before he could even complain.

WHOOSH

He found himself in a medical ward in the emergency medical wing set up within the border, immediately collapsing unconscious as several medical paramedics immediately. Megamind did indeed take a toll on his brain and mind, causing him to last not as long as he could.

He swept a tired gaze across the entirety of the emergency medical ward as he beheld countless Martial Artists of different Realms receiving emergency first aid from the youngest of Martial Apprentices to the eldest of Martial Masters.

He even spotted Sage Ourlen, one of the seven Sages that the Emperor of Harmony had brought in as a part of his grand plan, among the injured. He recalled how the tectonic plate golem stepped on him.

Yet, despite this blemish, the Martial Sages had an almost perfect record. Together with Rui’s sabotage of the beasts and monsters through hypnosis and the Yggdrasil System, he was able to drastically improve their strategic outlook, allowing the Sages to exterminate a huge proportion of the initial wave of beasts and monsters.

He wanted to continue fighting, but alas, his Body and brain refused to comply.

He felt his vision blurring.

The world disappeared into darkness as he closed his eyes, falling unconscious, and was immediately carted away from the medical ward for more intensive care. STEP Meanwhile, the battle against the incoming Beast Incursion continued as Martial Artists and soldiers fought hard to protect their empire and their people from the frenzy of the beasts and monsters that sought to destroy the entirety of the empire.

The initial shock of the sight of more monsters and beasts than they had ever seen in their entire lives wore off as the Martial and military troops began adapting to the endless hordes of frenzied rampages that could very well kill them if they didn’t tackle it correctly.

Meanwhile, the Kandrian Empire and the Martial Union gained a better understanding of exactly what they were dealing with through firsthand experience, observation, and data.

“Your Majesty, the density and uniformity of the beast tide is lower than what second-hand sources of intelligence suggest,” the director of intelligence informed him. “According to the analysis of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, this is because the beasts and monsters of the beast tide do not travel across at equal speeds. The more time passes, the lower the uniformity of the beast incursion.”

Emperor Rael narrowed his eyes. “So much of the bulk of the beast tide has yet to arrive due to being slower than the first wave?”

“Yes, Your Majesty.” The minister of ecology and environment answered the question. “Migrative speed of beasts and monsters are subject to far more variables than it is in Martial Artists. Power, threat, and lethality do not directly predict a greater migrative speed. While more powerful monsters are indeed able to generate far more energy to propel themselves, they are also heavier and larger, which, in turn, makes them slower. On top of that, there is the anatomical trait of muscles simply being slower the larger one gets due to mass outpacing muscular power. All these factors make it so that there isn’t a clear trend like with Martial Artists where higher Martial Artists are astronomically faster than the Lower Realms without exception.”

Emperor Rael digested this information rapidly. “I presume that means that the wave that has just reached the Kandrian Empire is the wave that has the highest migrative speed?”

“Yes, Your Majesty, this wave is comprised of species that engage in great migrations in an annual cycle around the Beast Domain at rapid paces for sustained and prolonged time periods,” the minister of ecology nodded. “Thus, they have been able to cover the entirety of the Panama Continent within a single day. The rest of the beast tide will not be able to accomplish that and, thus, will take more time to cross across the entirety of the continent.”

She projected an elementary distance-time graph with many different lines starting from zero before extending over the graph at different angles.

The higher the angle, the greater the speed. A certain dotted line on the y-axis marked the distance between the Beast Domain and the Kandrian Empire. The first line crossed that distance in a single day.

It represented the first wave of the beasts and monsters that had the Kandrian Empire just one day after the Beast Incursion epoch began.

The other lines subsequently cross it after more time.

Emperor Rael immediately understood what all of this meant. “We will be hit by waves after waves of the beast tide over an extended period of time.”

“Exactly, sir.”

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