The Martial Unity

BZZZT

The projection of the Esoterist buzzed into a spacious and extravagant conference room in the Royal Palace of Vargard in the Kandrian Empire. He gazed at the Emperor of Harmony opposite his seat across the table, gazing at him with a serious expression. His golden eyes and golden hair seemed to almost glow in the darkness of the night.

“Your Majesty,” the Esoterist smiled knowingly. “To what do I owe the pleasure of this meeting?”

His projection lit up and glowed as the single-piece technological suit he donned was streaked with glowing white circuitry paths and other technological components that eluded any scrutiny.

“Do not play dumb,” Emperor Rael replied with an intense voice. “You know what you did.”

The Esoterist smirked mischievously.

With the announcement of Esocline Federation’s very own World Bridge Network, which was an upgrade of the Kandrian Empire’s World Bridge system, the Esoterist has shattered the Emperor of Harmony’s stronghold over the Sages.

Up until now, it was only thanks to the World Bridge that the Emperor of Harmony had managed to convince the Martial Sages to stay in the Kandrian Empire for immediate projection across the continent.

It was nothing short of a soft coup d’état when it came to Martial Power.

However, with the recent announcement from the Esocline Federation, the Kandrian Empire no longer had as strong a reason to keep Martial Sages in their nation. The Esocline Federation even promised to set up branches of the World Bridge System, as owned by them, in each different nation, creating a World Bridge Network operated by the Esocline Federation.

This destroyed the reason for the Martial Sages to remain in the Kandrian Empire.

The Esoterist heaved a sigh.

“Can you blame me? The fact of the matter is that you have the world by the balls at this moment with all the Martial Sages in your custody. That’s too much power for one man,” the Esoterist remarked with a serious expression. “It does not bode well for the Panama Continent to have one man seize all control over all Martial Sages. Not even if that person is the greatest ruler in human civilization.”

Emperor Rael simply gazed at him with a calm expression.

“You have benefited from me doing what I did,” he continued with a heavy tone. “If not for my integrity to maintain my promise, I would not have needed to help the Esocline Federation. Yet, I deployed as many Sages as needed to protect you and your nation, did I not?”

The Esoterist stirred. “You did, and for that I’m grateful. However, don’t pretend you did it out of integrity and principles. No, you did this because you need me. I control most of the satellites, followed by you. If the Esocline Federation perishes, then human civilization suffers tremendously.”

The Emperor of Harmony heaved a sigh. “That is correct. Regardless, I have operated in good faith, and you repay me by undermining my power, knowing full well that this harms my objectives.”

The Esoterist shook his head.

“The Kandrian Empire simply has too much power. You control all Sages. Your son controls the Beast Excursion. It’s simply too much. Those who bear the name ’Kandria’ will essentially become a dynasty that rules over the entire continent. Nobody wants that, and that is why I have done what I did.”

The Emperor of Harmony simply gazed at him in silence.

“Then there’s the fact that your empire is simply inadequate in caring for the needs of all Martial Sages of human civilization,” the Esoterist remarked. “After all, Martial Sages also need to train and practice to ensure that their skill does not deteriorate, but instead progresses. The Kandrian Empire alone can’t take care of all their needs because of limited resources; the only reason that you have barely managed to keep them happy is thanks to the manifold, but even that has limits.”

With more than three hundred Martial Sages, even the mighty Kandrian Empire found itself lacking and unable to keep up with all their training and resource demands. While Martial Sages didn’t need a lot of resources to keep themselves alive, they did need resources to train. And while the Kandrian Empire was the most powerful Sage-level powerhouses, it had limits in and of itself.

“I will not yield the power that I have accumulated easily,” the Emperor of Harmony remarked. “The fact of the matter is that human civilization is simply too divided to operate efficiently. Putting aside false modesty, human civilization would have long collapsed if not for my administration over it.”

The Esoterist simply gazed at him with a serious expression before shaking his head. “…And yet, we can’t trust you to always wield that power fairly for all of our sakes either, Your Majesty. It would be better for all of us if you just accept our demands rather than prolong a political battle that will harm internal unity. I mean, aren’t you all about harmony?”

Emperor Rael heaved a soft sigh. “I am willing to come to a compromise. The compromise is that the Kandrian Empire retains some of the Martial Sages while a portion returns to their homelands and operates through your portal network. I imagine that this will still be attractive to the nations. After all, the Martial Insurance means they receive the aid of our Martial Sages but also Dawnbringer himself.”

The Esoterist’s expression grew complicated.

After having borne witness to how Rui Quarrier’s return to the Kandrian Empire allowed for the total destruction of the evolutionary settlement, it was almost impossible to deny this.

The Emperor of Harmony glanced at his pocket watch with a knowing expression.

“The meeting is going to start soon. We will finalize all these details, then with the others. Whatever we do, we must ensure that we are all on the same page.”

BZZZT

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…

Within minutes, projections of the other leaders of human civilization joined the conference room.

The Emperor of Harmony directed a sweeping gaze at all of them with a powerful gaze.

“Leaders of Panama, much has happened since we last met. Today, in this meeting, I hope to come to a final accord about the future of our polities, the future of human civilization, and the future of this continent in the true world.”