The Martial Unity

For a moment after Rui collapsed, nothing happened.

His body simply lay there, illuminated by the light of the bright morning Sun

Then, the wood from the trunk of the titanic tree expanded as a pathway emerged outside her, pulling the unconscious Rui through it carefully as organic tissue wrapped around him within her massive body.

The Mother of Nature quietly pulled him within her gargantuan body, hiding him from everybody who searched for him as she tended to the remaining wounds he hadn’t managed to entirely heal while giving him a place to rest.

Deep within a cavity within her body, several organic machines emerged from her wood, surrounding the unconscious Rui as medical instruments emerged from them, attaching themselves to Rui’s body. Bioluminscent flowers emerged from the wood, lighting the cavity up and dispelling the darkness.

She made sure to avoid piercing his skin, having seen what the poison within his body was capable of when injected into her dead sister’s body. She monitored his vitals, supplying the nutrients and compounds he needed for sustenance through his breathing in a manner of function similar to Nature Breathing.

CRACK CRACK CRACK

From the wood within the cavity emerged an elven figure.

An elderly elf with pale, white skin.

She gazed at him with knowing emerald eyes, as she studied his condition and his face while he remained deep in sleep, before turning away as she turned her attention to her frenzied sisters.

’Where did he go?!’

’There is no way that a teleportation that quick and with that small a timeframe could have possibly teleported him out of the continent. He must still be somewhere in Genora!’

’Find him! Scour the entirety of the East Genoran Flora Network! He must be somewhere!’

He was indeed somewhere, just not where they had expected him to be.

They hadn’t expected that a Mother of Nature among them would not partake in their cause to annihilate the existence of the demon of death, one responsible for the death of Mother Mara.

Unfortunately for them, there were those who knew better.

’Sister Maeria.’

The elderly light elf studying Rui within the depths of her gargantuan body stirred as she turned her attention to the East Genoran Flora Network.

’I am aware that you are the most pacifist of us all, elder sister,’ the Mothers of Nature respectfully addressed her. ’However, can you let us know if you have spotted the demon within your domain?’

“…” Mother Maeria simply continued studying Rui. “…I don’t think I have, unfortunately.”

’Then… please let us know if you do, elder sister.’

“I will be sure to keep an eye out for him,” she replied smoothly, even as she studied Rui with an elderly gaze.

The entirety of East Genora turned into a witch hunt as Mothers of Nature and light elves alike began searching for Rui frantically across half of the continent. They had confidence that he was alive and was within East Genora based on the data that they had collected from his teleportation, being able to estimate the radius within which he could possibly be.

Simultaneously, they issued a strict border patrol notice to all light elves, ensuring that he couldn’t possibly even escape East Genora without them finding out about it and intervening at the right moment.

’Dammit,’ one Mother of Nature vented with a frustrated tone in the depths of the East Genoran Flora Network. ’I can’t find him anywhere I look! It doesn’t help that our damned sisters from the West are obstructing our attempt to locate him at every step!’

The dark elven cyberattack on light elven territory had proven to be effective in reducing their effective ability by taking away time, energy, resources, and cognition. It was bad enough that their sisters tried their best to obstruct their attempts to kill them in the middle of the fight, making it even more difficult to not just kill him, but also find him.

’The fact that they are still conducting a cyberattack against us is proof that they haven’t found him,’ one Mother of Nature reasoned. ’They are hoping that they can make it easier for him to escape by continuously obstructing us in this manner. Thus, not only have they not managed to get him back, but we can be confident that they don’t have any idea where he is or whether he is even alive or not. They are likely just praying that we have not killed him yet so that their relationship with the humans of the Lost Continent will not have been permanently scarred.’

’It is disgusting that they are willing to antagonize us, their sisters, and the only people they can trust for the sake of civilization that will never understand them the way we do.’

The relationship between dark elves and light elves had deteriorated considerably in the span of just one day. The dark elves felt betrayed by the assault of the light elves on one of their guests and allies when they were on their territory, while the light elves, in turn, felt betrayed that the dark elves chose to side with the humans against the light elves.

Even as the light elves desperately searched their half of the continent for Rui, they couldn’t help but find him and kill him as quickly as possible so that they could put an end to this debacle and end the episode.

They hoped that the death of the Dawnbringer would become a source of friction between the dark elves and human civilization, causing their alliance to break apart, leaving the dark elves no choice but to return to the light elves with nothing else left to lose from mending a broken sisterhood.

Interestingly enough, human civilization remained relatively silent despite everything that had unfolded with their strongest warrior and one of their most important leaders. While the Emperor of Harmony himself played the part of an aggrieved leader and father, the rest of the political establishment within the Panama Continent didn’t make so much as a sound regarding the recent events, much to the surprise of not just the dark elves, but also the light elves, who couldn’t help but grow suspicious at the relative silence.