The Martial Unity

The Britannian Empire was not having the best of times.

The inception of the Beast Incursion hit them like a meteorite.

They were closer to the Beast Domain than any other Sage-level powerhouse in existence, after all.

Not only that, but they had suffered an immense territorial breach and destruction of a part of their nation at the hands of the beasts and monsters. The Masters alone could not hold off the entirety of the onslaught, resulting in the death of many, many millions of innocent Britannian citizens.

It was a devastating wound that would undoubtedly scar the nation for all time to come.

It needed his help the most after the Sekigahara Confederate, even if it would, it was too proud to admit it.

RUMBLE

Heaven and earth quivered when he finally reached the Britannian Empire.

The very world seemed to bend under the weight of her being and existence.

The strongest Martial Sage of the Britannian Empire.

Her attire was that of a ostentatious knightly militaristic attire that sparkled in the light of the Sun, giving her otherworldly feeling.

Unlike Sage Shinken of the Sekigahara Confederate, who merely dawned a simple loose yukata, the Britannian Empire did not possess a sense of modesty.

It was a domineering and proud nation.

And that was reflected in the way that she carried herself with a puffed chest and raised chin.

And yet, she didn’t seem to look down on him.

“Prince Rui, we awaited your arrival. Welcome to the Britannian Empire.”

Rui smirked. “How painful was that for you to say to me, of all people?”

“Excruciating,” she calmly replied without even the slightest hint of hesitation. “I would have thought that this would have never happened unless hell swallowed heaven and earth. Though, I suppose it has. That is why you are here, after all.”

Rui shrugged. “I don’t like this any more than you do. The fact that I have to help you bastards after everything you did to us is actually repulsive.”

She glowered at his words but didn’t retort.

They needed him.

She knew that.

She simply gritted her teeth and turned around.

“Come.”

Not warmest of welcomes, but he supposed it was better than Sage Shinken who expressed his desire to kill him instead of welcoming him. Rui actually found it to be more palatable than the increasingly intense devotion and awe that he had mysteriously been detecting amid nations.

The Britannian Empire’s cold frostiness was refreshing in comparison.

He followed the Martial Sage into the Britannian Empire, taking a good look at the Sage-level powerhouse that had spearheaded the war against the Kandrian Empire.

Instantly, he felt like he was wading through an ocean of negativity.

Sorrow.

Grief.

Despair.

Misery.

Terror.

It didn’t matter if the return of the Sages entirely stabilized the Britannian Empire’s outlook, even if it sustained deep pressure. With many millions of Britannians dead, everybody in the Britannian Empire had lost someone they knew and cared about. The entire nation was engulfed in deep sorrow.

The destruction of a part of their nation had traumatized the citizens of Britannia even more than the Sekigaharans were.

“Your people have not fared well.”

She turned to glare at him. “Which people have, amidst this apocalypse?”

Rui was about to say the Kandrians were doing just fine but decided against it.

There was no point in testing the patience of a person who could crush him if she wanted to. Rui was not under the delusion that he was even remotely able to resist the power of a peak Martial Sage.

As he studied the Britannian Empire, he was able to gain deeper insights into the nature and the ethos of the nation. It was similar to the Sekigahara Confederate in that there was an overwhelming focus and emphasis on their warring power.

However, that was where the similarities ended.

The Britannian Empire was not exclusively obsessed about Martial Art, even if it was Martialocratic nation and a Martial supremacist nation.

The Sekigaharans lived and breathed Martial Art, rejecting technology in many aspects of their lives unless that technology was in service of Martial Art like their incredibly hypermodern training metropolises. Thus, the Sekigaharans lived in a relatively primitive civilization when Martial Art was not concerned. All their siege technology was imported from the Esocline Federation and the R&D was exclusively towards Martial Art and nothing

else.

The Britannian Empire, on the other hand, was more practical. It embraced the full power of esoteric technology. Rui saw plenty of motorized and automated carriages amidst an equal number of traditional carriages pulled by horses or even human slaves.

They cared more about net militaristic power than Martial purity.

In turn, they also cared more than just war.

In the Sekigahara Confederate, war was the end goal and objective. They would trigger war using covert sabotage operations, spreading coup detats, civil wars, and wars between nations along sociocultural fault lines and then profit from the war as mercenaries.

The Britannian Empire business model was different.

Across the entire nation were elaborate public architechture and art depicting the superiority of not just the Britannian Empire but also the Britannian people. It depicted Britannia standing tall and proud while it dominated and colonized nations in its sphere of power, from which it looted and plundered capital and resources back to the Britannian Empire’s mainland to strengthen its own nation.

Centuries of imperialistic colonization and exploitation were what allowed the Britannian Empire to eventually become a Sage-level powerhouse.

It was for that reason that the citizens of this nation who regarded themselves to be the greatest people of the Panama Continent weren’t able to handle not just the grief and sorrow from the devastating wounds that the nation suffered but also the tremendous blow to their national pride and sense of superiority.

Yet, Rui wasn’t able to bring himself any sympathy for the nation in that regard, even if it was callous to the people who grieved their losses. At the very least, he had no sympathy for the

leaders of the nation.

Or the leader, in this case.

–