The Martial Unity

Rui followed the mice and the crows as they led him back to their masters under the command of his Authority of Alpha. He was certain that whoever was manipulating these animals couldn’t have expected that they would run into one of two users of the Authority of Alpha.

He rushed across the port city as they led him down a series of alleys and back into the main city. Immediately, he found him in the better parts of town with regular civilians walking about the city after a long day of work.

The sky had already darkened considerably after the Sun had completely set, while cool winds blew across the Empire from the ocean. Rui activated misdirection, preventing himself from drawing any attention from any pedestrians on the streets.

’Their master lives in the more civilized parts of the city?’ Rui raised an eyebrow. ’Hiding in plain sight, are we?’

It reminded him of the Beggar Sect in some ways. He supposed there were traits that were universal to all spies and intelligence brokers. No one would suspect that the most notorious intelligence broker was hiding right under their noses.

They led him to one of the most vast estates in the city that he had seen up until that point, spreading an enormous amount of distance, barricaded with a large wall that ran the entire perimeter. Within it, however, wasn’t a massive array of buildings, but ratherr a vast expanse of trees and animals that ran massive lengths in all directions, infested with flora and fauna of all manners.

[Koreal Sanctuary Garden]

“A sanctuary garden…” Rui muttered. “Must be a good front.”

The crows cawed at him, beckoning him forth as they immediately plunged into the massive sanctuary estate at the edge of the civilized parts of the city. He simply activated his misdirection and an invisibility technique to bend light around him, before following them into the property.

STEP

The moment he set foot into the property, he could tell something was off, which was perhaps a bit odd given how pleasant the estate of the sanctuary proved to be.

He found himself in a rich, green forest.

The kind that felt out of place on a port city bordering the ocean. The fact that it was still sustained despite being in the wrong climate and weather was an indication of how well-engineered the flora was to be able to thrive in such an environment.

A fresh, cool air lingered about within the walls of the sanctuary, the kind that refreshed one with a single breath. A wide variety of trees, plants, and shrubs checkered the place, arranged in neat rows and columns, giving the mini-forest within the sanctuary estate an almost mechanical feel to it.

The density of fauna was also high, with a myriad of small critters and birds in each and every single tree, while their chirps and squeaks.

In the distance, Rui could sense groups of people admiring the sanctuary garden, led by guides of people who led them along the entire estate, demonstrating and explaining various matters.

Perhaps it was an entirely ordinary sight for an estate such as this, but Rui still couldn’t help but feel something was off, like he was being watched every second.

Not just because he had gained a remarkably high degree of nature mastery with the elves, but also because of his senses and instincts as a Martial Sage. The trees were similar to those he saw in Genora, equipped with powerful botanical biotechnology, while the animals were also biotechnologically enhanced.

“Lead the way,” he insisted, immediately following the crows as they led him across the estate, towards its very epicente,r where he found a large complex of buildings.

An administrative building that ran the entire estate.

However, there was more.

Rui’s powerful senses permeated deeper into the building at all levels, looking for something suspicious.

And he found it.

An underground facility underneath the sanctuary estate, hidden in powerful anti-espionage flora technology common to the elves, making it difficult for him to discern what was within with his Seismic Mapping alone.

“That’s probably what I’m looking for.”

He activated Embodiment Firewall before activating his Realms of power, suppressing his power to the very maximum so that it didn’t get out. Considering the power he had, ensuring that nothing got in or out in and of itself was a herculean task.

RUMBLE…

Small tremors passed through the ground as the very fabric of space and time bent to the very maximum, warping into a singularity.

Into a tear through the very fabric of space.

WHOOSH

Just like that, he teleported straight into the underground facility.

STEP

In the blink of an eye, he found himself in what resembled a powerful chemical plant, manufacturing what appeared to be a powerful hallucinogen of sorts, that affected the mind. He could sense the fumes trying to impede his mind. Tubes emerged from powerful machines, heading upward into the ceiling. He could sense them being injected into a variety of parts of the sanctuary estate.

“This must be how this person is manipulating animals beyond just beast manipulation,” Rui realized. “This entire place is just a front to run their flora/fauna spying system.”

He glanced behind him from the edge of his eyes with a sharpened gaze.

“Am I right?”

Behind him in the distance was a hooded figure armed with a complete face mask, protecting the person from the fumes.

She stirred at his words as a distinctly female voice, altered by the mask, came from her.

“Correct,” she graciously replied while many animals emerged from the darkness behind her.

He turned around, finding himself gazing at none other than a myriad of powerful predatory beasts from a variety of species. From bears with a smoldering fur to big cats with glowing teeth and claws, with serpents with an almost corrosive venom leaking from their fangs.

Before he could even get a single word out, they lunged at him with a wild ferocity.

Of course, they didn’t stand a chance.

A single snarl was all it took to have them sitting before him silently.