The Martial Unity

“Your Excellency, we have successfully intercepted Sage Sielken, Sage Nemierr, and several others in their approach to the Dawnbringer.”

Sage Notera smiled.

“That’s brilliant. Keep up the good work. Just a bit more, and we will gain the power that we need to accomplish our ultimate objective.”

“Your Excellency, there’s yet another warrant for your arrest for conspiracy to commit treason.”

She snorted. “Ignore it. It doesn’t matter. When we succeed, we will be able to write the rules. The winners decide everything.”

She had decided to stake everything on this.

“I’ve had enough of waiting. We have had enough of waiting. If we don’t do it now…” she narrowed her eyes. “Then we will never be able to achieve our Martial Revolution.”

Martial Revolution.

It was a phrase with deep historical significance.

The Age of Martial Art had undergone two Martial Revolutions in the five hundred and fifty-nine years that it had existed. The first Martial Revolution took place at the very Dawn of the Age of Martial, shortly after the Squire Realm had been discovered and had proliferated around the Martial World.

It was the revolution to free Martial Artists from being treated as living weapons, merely tools who were to be at the disposal of the state and their masters. It allowed Martial Artists to assert their own power to protect their own interests and rights.

The Second Martial Revolution was more recent in memory. This time it was not a revolution to assert the rights of Martial Artists, but to assert the dominance of Martial Artists.

This led to many Civil Wars during the Reign of the Master Realm centuries ago.

The Nest of Terra had yet to undergo this particular revolution. It had actually come close to accomplishing it, yet due to the fact that Martial Art didn’t have as much leverage in the Nest of Terra relative to the other tech sectors in the Nest that maintained important systems like the ventilation, the water supply systems, and the lighting systems.

And yet, the flames of revolution had not been quashed centuries ago.

No, instead, it led to the accumulation of a sustained and growing revolutionary effort and faction.

The Martial Faction.

The civil tensions within the nation have only kept growing since then, reaching extraordinary thresholds.

And then, the Beast Incursion happened.

The crisis forced the two sides together until the Human Summit rolled around, and the Emperor of Harmony proposed a solution that would weaken the power of Martial Art in their home nations.

With the Martial Sages gone, it was the Martial faction that would suffer the most by far. The Martial Masters would not be able to withstand the political power and would have to witness their cause shrink and centuries of progress be undone in the span of years.

This was intolerable to Consul Notera and absolutely ideal to Consul Sergenilius, which was why he was quite delighted by the solution that the Emperor of Harmony had provided because it perfectly worked in favor of his political objectives.

“Tsk, that anti-Martial bastard would have noble Martial Artists serve as mindless slaves if he had the power to get away with it,” she muttered with disgust. “I cannot allow that to happen. I won’t.”

She needed to act before the Sages of the Nest of Terra would leave to deal with the quasi-Transcendent beasts within the Central Highlands of the Beast Domain. That realization had made the Martial faction desperate and impatient. That was why Consul Notera had spent eighteen months studying the Dawnbringer and the chances for a revolution that he brought with them.

She hoped that not only would he provide them with his Hellbringer model and breakthroughs, but he would be able to do what no one else had managed since the Shied of Gaia by finding the Scriptures of Terra, giving them the power they needed to usurp the establishment and create a Martial Supremacy.

“So far, he has exceeded my expectations with his rate of progress.”

His proactive initiative, the vote of confidence of one of her most trusted allies, Sage Kyria, was enough to give her certainty that this was the best chance that they would ever have.

BEEP BEEP BEEP!

Her eyes narrowed as she received a call from her greatest enemy.

“Consul Sergenilius,” she smiled. “I didn’t think that I would receive a call from you once more after our heated call last time.”

A moment of silence hung in the air.

“I have a proposal.”

She narrowed her eyes. “A proposal, you say…?”

She didn’t believe a word he said.

“I am willing to hear your demands and acquiesce to them under some conditions,” his tone was reluctant. “After heavy consideration… we have come to the conclusion that we cannot allow a civil war to occur in our nation when we are being bombarded by the Beast Incursion. We cannot allow a civil war to occur when our Sages will be departing from our nation to intercept the quasi-Transcendent Sages in the Central Highlands. As much as I despise your movement and your objectives… I care about the health of this nation.”

Her gaze sharpened even further. “You… what are you up to?”

She found it hard to believe that he had come around to simply acquiescing to the goals of the Martial Faction after all the years and decades that he had fought against in his career as a politician.

“I’m sure your first instinct is to think that this is a trap.” His tone was knowing. “I’m sure you’re all but ready to believe that we have prepared some kind of attack. But frankly, we do not. I propose a face-to-face conference where we discuss the terms and conditions of our potential agreement. I will never concede to an absolute Martial supremacy where the citizens are slaves. But… I’m willing to explore less extreme versions.”

“You expect me to believe this?” she gritted her teeth. “That you’re just coming around? You put a goddamn warrant for my arrest and declared me to be a fugitive in the past two months!”

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