The Martial Unity

The Patriarch of the Shinken Clan heaved a sigh. “Fools.”

His tone had an edge to it. The Patriarch of the Meran Clan glared at him defiantly. “What did you say?”

“I said that all of you are fools, aside from the Nindo Patriarch,” Patriarch Shinken remarked. “You do not understand…”

His eyes sharpened.

“You do not understand what would have happened if it weren’t the Kandrian Empire’s intervention.”

The clan leaders of the Sekigahara Confederate stiffened in silence.

“Tell me…” the Patriarch of the Shinken Clan remarked with a calm but chilling tone. “Would you rather be swallowed whole by a filthy monster that ravaged our lands, or would you rather submit to the Kandrian Empire? If you truly choose the latte,r then…”

He gestured in the general direction of the South-West towards the subsiding Beast Domain.

“By all means, be my guest.”

His tone was ruthless as he asked them to put their money where their mouths were. “You cannot fight the Kandrian Empire, not before, and certainly not now,” the Patriarch of the Shinken Clan remarked with a strangely relaxed expression. “Even if the Emperor of Harmony generously relinquished his control of the Sekigahara Confederate, the Sekigahara Confederate cannot survive this catastrophe and crisis by itself, after all…”

His expression darkened.

“We have lost approximately half of our population.”

This painful, horrifying reality caused nothing short of raw agony to emerge on the faces of the clan leaders. Their expressions crumpled with horror and despair at the reminder, while their teeth gritted heavily, grinding against each other intensely.

“Nations that lose half their populations will collapse,” he remarked. “Even in ordinary circumstances, it would be beyond devastating, but in the Era of Darkness? In the face of the endless crisis of the Beast Incursion?”

Not a single clan leader could even voice a retort, not even for the sake of saving face. Such a truth was so blatantly obvious and undeniable that they instead would be losing face by daring to deny it.

“The Sekigahara Confederate cannot survive by itself.”

This absolute truth had become entirely evident to all of them.

“Worst of all for all of you,” he continued. “You cannot even run anywhere to survive. The incursion rate into human civilization has long gone past fifty percent, meaning a majority of what was once human territory has been turned into the Beast Domain.”

The continent had become undiscovered once more.

It had been overtaken by nature, by flora and fauna, and had been exorcised of much of the old human influence. Human civilization had become the minority.

Human territory had become the minority.

Vast forests of esoteric flora filled with exotic, dangerous fauna covered most of the continent now.

Even if the clan leaders ran away from the Sekigahara Confederate, where would they go in their geographic vicinity?

“We have been defeated.” His tone was one of reckoning.

The clan leaders across the conference gazed at him with a shocked expression.

They truly had not expected that the most arrogant and volatile leaders among them would ever shed all their ego to such an extraordinary degree and admit easily what they were too proud to ever concede.

“However, we weren’t defeated by the Beast Domain…” he continued with a wise tone. “We weren’t defeated by the Kandrian Empire, either. No…”

He closed his eyes.

“We were defeated by our own ego the day we attacked the Kandrian Empire.”

Their expressions grew ugly.

And yet, they didn’t deny it.

They knew very well that the chain of events that had commenced from that day was responsible for virtually everything that had happened since then. “It was our egos and pride that led to this apocalypse,” he said, opening his eyes. “It was our ego and pride that has led to the destruction of half of the Sekigahara Confederate. And now, it is not we who have suffered as a consequence. As far as I can see, not a single scratch has befallen any of you. No, it is our people who have suffered as a result.”

His expression hardened once more.

“And now that same pride and ego will make them suffer even more by refusing submission to the Kandrian Empire.”

They clenched their fists with a conflicted expression.

“Regardless,” he continued. “You have only two options. You either submit or you don’t. The former will ensure that our people will survive, will get the necessary medical aid and logistical support, and the resources needed to heal our people and our broken country. We will get the Martial support we need to protect our nation from the Beast Incursion, which we can no longer do with the death of thirty Martial Masters. The latter, however…”

His gaze shifted around the table.

“…Will lead to the destruction of the Sekigahara Confederate at the hands of either the Beast Incursion or the Kandrian Empire.”

He got up slowly, directing one last look at all of them. “The only thing impeding the salvation of our people is your ego and pride.”

He turned around, departing the room before issuing one final message to the clan leaders of the Sekigahara Confederate.

“I will soon be making a public announcement and taking the official steps to submit as a vassal state to the Kandrian Empire, and will officially be signing a vassal treaty with Emperor Rael; Your actions will decide whether or not our people will suffer more than they already have.”

And just like that, he departed from the conference hall with absolute clarity on what had to be done. It wasn’t that he didn’t understand their sentiment, as someone with great pride in the Sekigahara Confederate and the Shinken Clan, he truly understood just how shameful and disgraceful it was for them to submit.

And yet, he knew that the fate of his people was more important.

Of course, that didn’t mean he would lick the boots of the Emperor of Harmony.

He would speak to him as a leader who was determined to protect his people.

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