The Martial Unity

Consul Notera’s eyes narrowed.

She understood his motivation.

He wanted to extract all the benefits of the Dawnbringer before he dealt with him to prevent the Scriptures of Terra from being discovered. While he was the enemy of the Martial faction, it didn’t mean that he was the enemy of Martial Art itself. In fact, he had many Martial Artists under him who he had lobbied or won over to his side.

Thus, the Hellbringer model and the mass breakthroughs were highly desirable to him. He would rather not waste it if he could. “Your concerns are reasonable, of course,” she replied sweetly. “However, I’m afraid that we have tried our best. However, the Dawnbringer had decided that he wishes to explore the Nest of Terra before imparting his services.”

“…That is rather strange, my fellow leader,” he remarked. “Even if he is understandably fascinated and enamored by our great nation. Why has the Dawnbringer decided to tour literally every square inch of all open public property? You even passed an executive bill giving him the complete security clearance to enter all prohibited and restricted governmental areas.”

“I’m sure you understand the importance of pleasing the Dawnbringer, Sergenilius,” she replied with a friendly tone. “He is extremely powerful and extremely coveted. If we please him, he may just decide to give us an extra blessing. That possibility alone is extremely desirable.”

“You can please him in all kinds of ways,” Consul Sergenilius retorted. “There was absolutely no need to give him top security clearance to do that. He is the prince of a foreign nation. He is a high-ranking member of the Kandrian Empire, the most powerful nation in the entire world! Sharing top secret access to an outsider official of another nation is the height of carelessness!”

She smirked at his rising anger. “My, the way you speak of him, it’s almost as if you look at him as an enemy instead of the savior that he is.”

“And you look at him as a savior instead of just another outside party with his own agendas and goals that don’t necessarily match with ours,” Consul Sergenilius growled. “You must cease this foolhardy nonsense and stop the Prince from exploring the Nest of Terra any further. Formally request him to impart his Hellbringer model and breakthroughs and tell him to get the hell out of our nation immediately after!”

“Even if I did agree with your words,” she shrugged with a hint of mischief. “What can I even do? As you so aptly put it, he is the prince of the most powerful nation in the world. He also comes with implicit and powerful political protection of every Sage-level powerhouse in the entire world, especially that of the Kandrian Empire. I don’t know about you, but I do not wish to make an enemy of the Emperor of Harmony and the Kandrian Empire after witnessing their brilliant performance in the Great East Panamic War.”

“Nonsense,” Consul Sergenilius scoffed with contempt. “We will hardly be making an enemy out of Emperor Rael by denying his son access to our most important top-secret classified zones. If that was enough to make enemies, then the entire world would be at war.”

“Well, the entire world is at war in the Era of Darkness, is it not?” she asked innocently.

“Enough with your specious sophistry,” Consul Sergenilius growled. “Just what is the Dawnbringer doing? Just what are you lot doing?”

She smiled.

“My, who knows?”

“Notera…” his voice grew chilling. “…I will say this once and only once.”

An unnerving tension brewed in the air.

The atmosphere grew frosty with peril.

“Cease your treasonous ambition.” His tone grew menacing. “Cease your search for the Scriptures. Cease pursuit of your treacherous objective. Cease immediately, or the consequences will be… severe.”

Her eyes blazed with determination.

“Never.”

The tension in the air boiled tumultuously.

BZZZT

Consul Sergenilius cut the call as his expression crumbled with grave severity.

Several Sages, some Martial Artists, and other important leaders and individuals stood in his grand stateroom, gazing at him with solemn seriousness.

“Consul, what did she say?”

Consul Sergenilius gritted his teeth as he clenched his fist. “She didn’t confirm explicitly, but there’s no doubt. The Dawnbringer is searching for the Scriptures of Terra as we speak! She is helping him in every way she can, and most importantly…”

His eyes sharpened fiercely. “She is confident of his success.”

The atmosphere crumbled under the sheer gravity of the situation they were in. If the Martial faction obtained their hands on the Scriptures of Terra, then they would gain the power they needed to achieve their ultimate objective. Consul Sergenilius knew his counterpart well enough that the moment they gained the power they needed, they would aggressively pursue their ambition with violence and bloodshed if needed.

“But…” one of the members of his faction murmured with skepticism. “Will he actually succeed? She may be confident, but she has also been confident for the past hundred years and has still failed to find the scriptures.”

The other stirred at his reasonable words. It was indeed true that just because she was confident of his success, it didn’t mean he would succeed.

“No.”

Consul Sergenilius’ words were fierce. “This time is different. Before, she was confident merely in words. Now, she had actually begun taking action. She has actually begun moving with the assumption that the Dawnbringer will succeed. I don’t know for a fact whether or not he will find it or not, but I don’t want to take any chances. Besides…”

His scowl grew deeper. “His profile and track record make me nervous. My intuition tells me we shouldn’t assume that he will fail just because we all have failed in finding it.”

All parties in the Nest of Terra had expended effort to find the mythical and legendary Scriptures of Terra, though none more than the Martial faction.

“But, Your Excellency, what do we even do?” another individual asked. “We cannot possibly kill him. His political protection is too great for us to possibly survive the consequences!”

“Then don’t kill him,” Consul Sergenilius snarled. “Capture him, incapacitate him, chop off his limbs. Whatever. Don’t kill him. That will leave us some path to avoid being destroyed by the world.”

And thus, the two political factions of the Nest of Terra began moving while Rui continued his search for the Scriptures of Terra.

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