The Martial Unity

“Huff… Huff… Huff…” Lord Narsimha panted heavily.

His golden fur was tainted with his blood, while his body was riddled with wounds. Opposite him, Lord Vakratunda stood tall and gallant as the war elephant’s eyes were fixed on his opponent.

His thick, dark hide was covered in surface flesh wounds that stung, but weren’t particularly dangerous or debilitating to his war potential. He stood resolute, his trunk pointing at the lion like a cannon.

RUMBLE…

Tremors passed through the land of Kiriket as the remaining battles across the battlefield began wrapping up. The early light of the morning sky dawned upon the conclusion of the Kiriket Civil War as the victors heaved a sigh of relief and optimism.

The chill of the early morning and the alacrity that came with it hung in the air, bringing about what felt like a hopeful conclusion to what had otherwise been an extremely intense conflict.

“It’s over, Narsimha.” Lord Vakratunda’s voice was deep and powerful. “That final explosion that we felt just a few minutes ago… I’m sure you understood what happened.”

Lord Narsimha’s expression soured, growing more severe and grave. He couldn’t even muster a retort to deny the obvious. The simple truth of the matter was that the Dragon Emperor had perished in battle, having activated his self-destruction ability.

It was an ability that all converged beasts of Kiriket had. They each had within their DNA an ability that allowed them to trigger the complete destruction of their flesh so that the precious biotechnology of their bodies wouldn’t fall into the hands of their enemies.

Every single converged beast felt it when the explosion went off several minutes prior.

Lord Shenlong was dead.

The remaining converged beasts retreated from the battle independently as they saw the futility of continuing. The War Coalition may as well have fractured overnight, causing their entire cause to cease to exist. The death of the Dragon Emperor was devastating for the entire movement, for it destroyed any chances of the vision that the Dragon Emperor had passed on to them to ever succeed.

He had held the entire coalition together with his power, both literally and physically. Without his Authority, the coalition was doomed to crumble to pieces.

Continuing a battle was pointless, and yet Lord Narsimha couldn’t bring himself to easily admit defeat and run away with his legs in between his tails.

Lord Vakratunda heaved a sigh, shaking his head.

WHOOSH

In the matter of a moment, he reverted to his human form. His body collapsing into an extraordinarily dense state with the power of matter implosion technology that could increase the density of matter by drastically reducing its volume through sophisticated electromagnetic fields.

“I am done with this battle,” Lord Vakratunda announced, turning away.

“You’re just going to run away?!” Lord Narsimha roared.

“Yes, actually. Well, I prefer walking to running, but yes.” Lord Vakratunda’s tone was one of amusement.

The lack of seriousness in his words made Lord Narsimha feel depressed about how trivialized the battle became after the Dragon Emperor died, as if he wasn’t even worth fighting without Lord Shenlong looming as a threat.

He was supposed to be the third most powerful converged beast in the entire continent, and yet he may as well have been invisible compared to the Dragon Emperor.

The lion snarled with displeasure but began retreating. With the Dragon Emperor gone, there truly was no point in continuing a war, especially since the other side was more than content with going home and earning a good, long break after the session of relaxation.

He also needed to check up on his people who had undoubtedly been affected by the maelstrom of seismic radiation, tsunamis, and even the crazy illusion of water that had swept up the entire continent.

So much had happened in such a short period of time that it had thrown the entirety of the continent into disarray and chaos. With the War Coalition crumbling, the future of the entire continent had changed.

Many of the Pasupati Clans of Kiriket that had once found their place in the War Coalition would have to find a new way to co-exist with their fellow therianthropes.

The War Faction, at the very center of the War Coalition, had definitely taken an intense blow and had suffered the greater damage. However, perhaps none had taken as heavy a blow as the Ryu Clan itself.

One moment, their leader and patriarch was among the most powerful pathwalkers in the world, and the very next moment, he was dead. Their clan’s status and power plummeted from the very top in the entirety of the Kiriket, plummeting to the very bottom. The Dragon Emperor was the only reason that they were among the very strongest, and without him, they were doomed.

Especially when they had not used their power and status prudently in the past ten years, using it for their own personal gain, at the cost of others, the members of the Ryu Clan couldn’t even imagine just how difficult it would be for them from this point on.

Meanwhile, the rest of Kiriket slowly began regaining their bearings regarding what had happened. The tsunamis had subsided, the earthquakes had begun to cease, while the almost indistinguishable hallucination of water had also begun to cease entirely.

The people finally felt like they had returned to reality and some semblance of normality as evacuation and safety measures began easing up in the aftermath of the devastating battle.

The Harmonist Faction was most overjoyed and relieved.

They had resolved everything on this operation.

If it failed, they would lose everything. The Dragon Emperor and the War Coalition would wipe them out and hunt them all alive. The leaders of the clans, at the very least, would be wiped out. It was a gamble, and it was one that had paid off.

The future of Kiriket was no longer one steeped in war.

It was a future that they could mold in accordance with their desires now that the continent had been freed from the grip of the Dragon Emperor.