The Martial Unity

The dwarves were not the only ones to take the new elven-human alliance seriously. Many polities began having similar considerations as they too were faced with two choices: whether to pursue war and conquest against human civilization directly or indirectly, or whether to pursue peace in the hopes that human civilization would be willing to give up a portion of its own esoteric resources of its own volition.

Many hoped for the latter while many believed the former was necessary. They each weighed the pros and cons of both options with the added deterrence of the Genora-Panama Alliance. Many nations that were too entangled with the dark elves couldn’t afford to pick a fight with the humans anymore, for they would lose far too much in an attempt to engage in military conquest against human civilization.

However, there were also those who were extremely displeased by the alliance.

Those who saw the alliance as a provocation.

’Our sisters have gone too far this time.’

In the depths of the East Genoran Flora Network, the Mothers of Nature of the light elves had convened in the depths of the network to speak with each other far away from the prying eyes of their sisters in the west.

The flora of Genora was not clearly delineated between the two halves of the continent, and the flora of both sides still maintained a rich flora network with each other, even if it had diluted over a span of centuries and millennia since water levels had risen, causing the two halves of the continent to be divided between east and west.

’First, they went out of their way to beckon the Lost Continent and the primitive savage species that resides upon it,’ one mother sneered. ’Then they went out of their way to cultivate a friendship in the hopes that they would be able to reform these savage primates into a pristine, harmonious civilization.’

’That’s not even the worst of it,’ another mother scoffed. ’They invited these humans, these so-called ’Martial Artists,’ upon their half of our continent. That, still, would have been tolerable, but that wasn’t enough. They had to go out of their way to invite that… that… thing.’

The Mothers of Nature recoiled with disgust.

’That filthy creature that reeks of death.’

’I can smell him all the way from the other side of the continent. He is a profoundly ill and sick living being. His odor makes me want to destroy the olfactory receptors of our flora so that I may be spared his scent.’

’What do they see in that disgusting lifeform? Why did they go out of their way to invite that creature of death to Genora, a paradise of life?’

’He is indeed revolting, but that is still not the worst part,’ another Mother remarked with an icy, cold tone. ’The worst part is that he has identified crucial weaknesses and vulnerabilities in our biotechnology. The two halves of Genora may have diverged a bit in our botanical biotechnology, but the foundations are the same. He had identified damning weaknesses in our foundation that may yet cripple our entire civilization!’

The light elves were not pleased to see Rui effortlessly develop counters that could cripple their nature manipulation, for their manipulation of nature was their one and only defense against outside invasion and the imperialist powers that would have loved to conquer the paradise that was Genora.

The defense bypassing attacks were bad enough by themselves. Because elves did not have an inherently powerful physicality, any method of bypassing the wood that they used to protect themselves was extremely dangerous.

The worst part, one that they found to be the most humiliating, was that his solution wasn’t some extravagant application of high principles that was extremely difficult to tap into, that would have been bad enough, but still more tolerable because it reflected a very limited threat due to how difficult it would have been. Instead, the worst part was that it was derived from a relatively simple principle of sonics, the field of sound.

This meant that he had discovered a low-effort, low-principle, and easy-to-replicate damning counter to their defense systems.

’That, in and of itself, merits death,’ one Mother of Nature hissed. ’But even that is not his worst offense. His worst offense is cutting the bond between elves and nature! Such heresy cannot be forgiven!’

The light elves saw how Rui’s domain of Faraday’s Silence effortlessly rendered dark elves toothless. The domain rendered them unable to communicate with nature anymore, something that the elves, especially the light elves, regarded as sacred.

The light elves regarded their ability to bond with nature, to communicate with it, and manipulate its power to their needs as a special power, one that stood above the rest. It was extremely important to their cultural identity and was at the very core of their civilization.

Thus, in their eyes, what Rui had done was the equivalent of desecrating what was most precious to them and spitting on it.

’Unforgivable!’

’And our sisters are no better! How dare they try to teach the Nature Path to a disgusting, revolting, filthy, deathly ghoul like that male!’

’In the first place, it is impossible for an outsider to harness the power of nature to the extent that we do! Even hybrid races containing our pristine blood running through their veins cannot do so to anywhere near the extent that we do. A savage Martial Artist cannot possibly learn our power!’

Everything about Rui was a provocation to every sensibility and limit that the light elves had.

They simply could not tolerate Rui’s existence, and they could not tolerate the fact that the dark elves were tolerating his shenanigans and even going as far as to teach him the power of nature.

’We cannot allow it.’

This was something that they were almost unanimous on.

’We will not allow it.’

They knew that they had to intervene.

However, because dark elven civilization and light elven civilization were so interconnected, any attempt to correct this error would take a lot of time and preparation.

It was worth it as far as they were concerned.

’We will erase his existence from this world and lead our misguided sisters back on the path of purity.’