The Martial Unity

3001  Heightening Fear

Rui couldn’t even begin to fathom what the Martial Primordial had told him.

The sheer collision of the information was so great that even Rui reeled as he parsed the words that came out of the Martial Primordial, words that overlapped from the past and the future, defying the very shackles of causality that bound all reality.

The Astral Sovereign’s mouth curled with a hint of displeasure.

He had wanted to be the one to reveal this information to Rui, and he had even made arrangements for it. But now he would need to scrap those as the Martial Primordial decided to steal the spotlight.

Of course, he also understood why this needed to be told to him. “…You need to know this now,” the Martial Primordial remarked. “For we have underestimated the sheer magnitude of the threat we face. The very moment the manifold Unfolded, we experienced even greater fear.”

Rui’s eyes widened with shock. “…What?”

“It means that the Panama Manifold has impeded our senses and has actually made the fear feel less intense.” The Martial Primordial’s expression grew grave. “We have made a blunder. Had we known that the threat was this intense and this imminent, we would have acted differently from how we did.”

Chills crawled across Rui’s skin at those words.

Shivers crawled up his spine.

He felt like his brain was going to break.

He was still reeling from the impact of the knowledge that Martial Transcendents ceased to exist, for the longer they used their power. The information that the Realm of Power of the Transcendent Realm was known as the Martialverse alone was enough to keep him up for days, thinking about the implication of that statement.

All of these revelations were on top of the fact that the Panama Continent was just a closed dungeon like the Mellow Dungeon that had completely shattered his worldview.

He genuinely wasn’t sure if he could handle such a dump of shocking information. Even though the raw data of the words was very little, their destructive quality overwhelmed his cognition.

“I only share all of this information with you because I’m confident that you are qualified. That you can handle it,” the Martial Primordial revealed. “I’m confident that this information in your hands will benefit human civilization and benefit our prospects for the future.”

VMMM…

Their existences shimmered even more, flickering uncertainly as their forms began fading even more. Less than half their existences were left.

They had no more than a minute.

He had so many questions.

So many questions regarding Martial Art.

Regarding the world. Regarding the reason that they had made the decisions that they had made.

And yet, he didn’t have time. “When will you… return?” Rui’s tone was melancholic.

“…Not anytime soon,” the Martial Primordial revealed vaguely. “Not for a century, at least.”

The sheer weight of the knowledge that human civilization would be deprived of its Martial Transcendents was intense.

The air grew heavy with tension.

The atmosphere tingled with peril.

Rui heaved a deep breath as he regained a measure of his composure, gazing at the Martial Transcendents with a profoundly deep look.

At the same time, they needed to be ready and there for the day the Unfolding happened.

After all, the sheer destructive gravitational wave was powerful enough to overwhelm any of them individually.

Which meant that they would need to cooperate for the event and be there for it, which meant that they couldn’t hastily use their power, potentially causing them to be unable to contribute to negating the consequences of the Unfolding.

They did intervene when they had no choice, like when the Transcendent Emperor decided to step in when an inadvertent black hole with the potential to destroy everything formed, but he minimized the force he used to the very smallest extent, minimizing the time he disappeared to be just enough.

All for the sake of preventing the destruction of human civilization.

They knew that human civilization needed to continue, if only for the sake of producing more Martial Transcendents to help them deal with the Martial Fear that plagued them all. This indicated a lot of thought that had gone into their actions, with careful consideration for human civilization. They had never revealed the reason for their inaction to human civilization, because how could they? Without the context of the Unfolding, it was impossible to explain their reasons. And revealing the Unfolding ahead of time could potentially be disastrous for the future of human civilization.

“Thank you.”

Rui’s tone was one of sincere gratitude.

The blood-red Suns in his eyes flared with blinding brightness and determination. “I will ensure that all of human civilization exists and is thriving by the time you return to the real world.”

The fading Martial Transcendents regarded him with approval even as they faded out of existence.

“L̷e̴t̷ ̷K̸a̷n̴e̵ ̸k̷n̷o̷w̴ ̴t̵h̵a̸t̶ ̵i̵f̶ ̷h̵e̷ ̸s̴l̷a̴c̵k̴e̷n̸s̷ ̷o̴f̸f̶,̵ ̷I̸ ̴w̵i̷l̶l̸ ̵D̷e̶s̸t̸r̶o̵y̷ ̶h̶i̴m̷ ̶b̴l̴a̷c̷k̶ ̸a̵n̵d̴ ̴b̶l̸u̷e̸ ̷w̵h̴e̵n̸ ̸I̶ ̸r̸e̷t̶u̷r̴n̷.” The Devil grinned with menacing intensity.

“I̷ ̴e̴n̵t̵r̷u̸s̴t̵ ̷y̵o̴u̷ ̶w̵i̴t̵h̵ ̵t̷h̷e̵ ̸d̵u̸t̴y̷ ̷o̷f̷ ̶s̸h̵i̵e̶l̴d̴i̴n̶g̶ ̸G̶a̴i̸a̸ ̵f̷r̴o̵m̸ ̷a̵l̵l̵ ̷t̷h̵a̴t̶ ̷t̸h̷r̴e̴a̵t̶e̵n̸s̸ ̴t̸o̷ ̸d̴e̵s̵t̸r̷o̴y̷ ̶h̸e̶r̸,” The Shield of Gaia solemnly spoke.

“Y̵o̷u̴r̷ ̷e̵x̶i̸s̸t̴e̶n̸c̴e̸ ̷r̶e̶l̶i̶e̶s̸ ̵t̴o̸o̶ ̵m̵u̵c̷h̷ ̴o̶n̷ ̵t̴h̸e̶ ̸p̶o̸w̷e̷r̴ ̵o̴f̶ ̶o̸r̷d̷e̵r̴,” The Conqueror of Chaos grinned crookedly. “H̵a̴r̴n̴e̸s̴s̸ ̶t̸h̵e̶ ̷p̵o̴w̴e̷r̴ ̵o̴f̷ ̴C̴h̶a̶o̶s̵,̵ ̵D̶a̸w̸n̷b̸r̵i̸n̶g̵e̶r̶.̷ ̷Y̶o̵u̴ ̶w̶i̶l̴l̷ ̷n̵e̴e̶d̶ ̷i̸t̶ ̸w̵h̶e̵n̴ ̵t̵h̶e̸ ̶t̶i̴m̶e̴ ̶c̶o̴m̴e̴s̷.”

“T̶h̸e̴ ̵E̸r̵a̸ ̴o̶f̸ ̴D̵a̵r̶k̷n̷e̶s̵s̵ ̷m̸a̴y̴ ̵v̷e̵r̶y̴ ̸w̵e̸l̴l̸ ̷c̵o̷m̶e̵ ̸t̵o̶ ̵a̵n̴ ̷e̷n̴d̶,” The Demon of Darkness spoke with a whisper. “B̷u̵t̵ ̵t̵h̸a̵t̴ ̷d̴o̶e̵s̶n̶’̵t̵ ̷m̷e̴a̶n̵ ̵t̵h̴a̴t̷ ̸y̴o̶u̵ ̷o̵u̷g̴h̶t̷ ̸t̶o̵ ̵s̴h̶u̶n̷ ̵D̴a̵r̴k̸n̵e̷s̷s̵.̸ ̴I̴t̵ ̵c̸a̷n̷ ̴b̴e̸c̸o̵m̴e̷ ̷y̶o̷u̵r̴ ̷a̷l̴l̸y̸ ̶s̵h̸o̶u̵l̸d̴ ̴y̷o̷u̵ ̶o̶p̷e̴n̴ ̸y̶o̴u̶r̵s̷e̵l̸f̴ ̸t̵o̷ ̵i̵t̵.̵”