The Martial Unity

The air grew uncertain and silent after the Martial Pontifex declared the outcome of the battle.

A lot of them were absorbed in the miracles that they had just witnessed.

A lot of them were uncertain about the future.

And yet, one Sage drew their attention with her gesture.

Sage Sariawar rose from her seat among the Sages as she drifted towards the Dawnbringer.

Her expression was reverent.

Her eyes were fervorous.

She arrived before Rui, even as he walked towards the exit.

Rui, on the other hand, simply glared at her with displeasure.

He was already in a bad mood due to losing out on fighting another Martial Sage and potentially winning for real this time. He didn’t want to be confronted by an unpleasant presence when he was already feeling very irritated.

And yet, she simply knelt before him, much to the shock of many who beheld the entire scene.

“I, Cardinal Sage Sariawar, pledge my undying loyalty to Your Divinity.”

Rui’s gaze sharpened with displeasure. “I thought you were a die-hard supporter of the Anti-Life.”

She shook her head.

“I have been following you for the past twenty years, Your Divinity, ever since I first learned about you.”

The tension in the air tingled as Rui glared at her with a murderous expression. “Then tell me the truth about—”

He paused as several more figures arrived before him, kneeling with pious body language.

The Martial Sages of the dead Martial Masters.

They, too, swore loyalty to Rui.

The Martial Masters in the audience watched with a stunned expression as many Martial Sages followed one after another. It wasn’t just that they had lost their chosen seeds, one way or another.

It was also that they had seen something in him that they hadn’t witnessed in the other seeds. The power to raze and raise.

It was one thing to hear about the Dawnbringer’s ability to break Martial Artists to a higher Realm or cripple them by breaking their Martial Paths.

It was another thing entirely to witness in front of their own eyes.

It was an experience that had shaken them.

In that moment, a single truth enshrined itself in their hearts.

If there was an Antithesis, it could not be anybody else except the Dawnbringer.

Nobody else had lived up to the miraculous legends of Lord Virodhabhasa the way that he seemed to effortlessly be able to. His Adaptive Evolution and his capacity to reshape his power to be most antithetical to his opponents were far more faithful to the legends that they heard about the Antithesis.

The Mindbreaker, the Worldfolder, and even the Anti-Life were incomplete and imperfect attempts at antitheticality.

They had once satisfied the Sages, but upon witnessing the Martial Art of the Dawnbringer, they could not help but realize that he was unlike any of them in his unparalleled ability to embody everything that the Virodhabhasa Gospels described of the Antithesis.

Before Rui knew it, nearly seven Sages that had accompanied their former chosen seeds knelt before him with piety. And yet, he found it difficult to take much pleasure in this outcome, even if it was what he had come to achieve.

In many ways, he resented these Sages.

He was also very uncomfortable with being worshipped by beings much stronger than him. BADUMP!

His Martial Heart and Martial Mind blazed to life once more as he turned towards the gathered Masters.

“Since all of you are already here, I will get this part out of the way. Gather around. I will impart the Hellbringer model to all of you. In the meantime, gather all the Martial aspirants, Squires, and Seniors for the breakthroughs.”

He wanted to get things over with as soon as possible so that he could leave this unpleasant nation. They adhered to his every command as though it was inviolable, readily prostrating themselves before him in veneration for the divine that they perceived in him. What unfolded was a scene that would go down in the annals of history as the day their god bestowed his divine power unto them.

A scene that would be etched in not just the Virodhabhasa Gospels but also in the Gospels of Dawn.

He rose to the air while an enormous flood of Water submerged the world around them, swallowing up his subjects and devotees while he imparted upon the kneeling Sages and Masters just a fraction of his power to equip the world to overcome the Era of Darkness that swallowed it whole.

And thus, they accepted his blessings.

It took hours, but by the time he was done, he had completely given them the power to fight against beasts and monsters with greater efficacy. By then, the Martial Artists of the Lower Realms had gathered.

And thus, he commenced the breakthroughs.

To say that it was the greatest day for the followers of the Virodhabhasa Faith was an understatement.

They beheld a wave of breakthroughs spreading through their followers.

Just as the gospels described.

“…Martial Paths He shall raise and raze,” a whisper escaped the Martial Pontifex as he recited a verse from the Virodhabhasa Gospel.

It was nothing short of a manifestation of everything that they had dreamed of upon the eventual Advent of Antithesis.

By the time he was done, the Virodhabhasa Theocracy had grown much, much stronger against the Beast Incursion and in general. With many more new Martial Artists that increased the power of the nation to cope with the beast tides.

Rui had been concerned because they had lost their peak Martial Masters. However, if the Sekigahara Confederate could manage, then he was certain that the Virodhabhasa Theocracy could manage as well. “And now…” Rui’s voice was solemn. “I command all Sages of the Theocracy to participate in the Beast Incursion.”

All Sages knelt once more.

“We oblige your Divine Command.”

All Sages except one. The Martial Pontifex stood where he was, refusing to lower his head or prostrate before Rui.

A single remark escaped him.

“No.”

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