The Martial Unity

Over the next week, the gathered Martial Sages of the Sovereign Martial Alliance watched as Rui’s regime began. They watched with grim expressions as the Void Order began targeting Martial crime, starting with Apprentices, before very quickly moving on to Squires, and eventually Seniors and Masters. The Martial Sages of the Alliance gritted their teeth at just how smoothly the Void Order dominated those they subjugated. Failures were certainly there, inevitably, but the failures were always contained and quickly fixed.

What was shocking was that collateral damage had hit absurd lows. It was one thing if it was only Apprentices and Squires, who had a limited capacity for collateral damage. But even Senior and Masters were quietly defeated before they could even cause too much damage.

“Damn bastards…!” Sage Kereso gritted her teeth. “They’re using Martial Artists of a higher Realm to crush the lower ones. They’re breaking the unspoken rules of the Martial World from the era of the Panamic Martial Federation.”

The rule that Realms were not to mix in conflict. Even after the Panamic Martial Federation fell during the Beast Incursion, this one rule was preserved out of an unspoken set of mutual decisions derived from game theory. If one nation, organization, or individual broke this rule, it could cause others to do the same.

It would lead to the mass death of Martial Artists of the Lower Realms, which could destroy future generations of Martial Masters and Sages. And with great external pressure from the Beast Incursion and later the True World, nobody wanted to weaken their entire civilization in the long-run for a momentary advantage obtained through foul play.

“The Void Order is flagrantly violating one of the most important tenets of the Martial World!” Sage Sehen gritted his teeth as he watched various news and intel reports from the alliance on the operations of the Void Order. “What ‘law and order’ when he is breaking such an important rule? It’s all just some bullshit. Does he not realize he is weakening our civilization by violating this principle?!”

“No, you’re wrong,” Sage Marhan gruffly said, watching the streams with ferocious eyes, but a cool expression. “Emperor Rui knows that he can create Martial Artists of virtually any Realm in excess surplus any moment he wishes with his civilizational mass breakthroughs. That rule means nothing to him because Martial Artists are worthless as dirt to him. He can farm Martial Apprentices, Seniors, Masters, and now Sages. Even if half of them die, he can always create more.”

Sage Sehen gritted his teeth as murderous hatred emerged on his eyes. “…This bastard is treating Martial Artists like disposable garbage. Someone like him… someone like him can’t be allowed to rule over the Martial World!”

“No…” The Gallant Fist growled. “He cannot be allowed to exist. His mass breakthroughs which reduces our value to trash and now this Void Order regime. Rui Quarrier is more of a threat to us than MECHAs or the blood children. That is why we must kill him…”

“…But how?” Sage Sehen hesitated. “How can we possibly eliminate someone who fought a Sage MECHA, and two top-ten powerhouses and emerged victorious?”

Sage Marhan’s smile widened viciously. “We target his weaknesses.”

A hint of malice entered his voice. “I heard Sage Amare is pregnant with his child. She herself is a weakness in that state, and once she delivers…” Sage Marhan continued with an ominous tone. “That child will forever be his weakness. We don’t need to defeat him in combat, although with nearly three hundred Martial Sages, we very well could. For now, we need to bide our time and build up more numbers and a stronger foundatio—”

Sage Marhan paused as his eyes widened, staring at one particular stream from the press projected on the walls of their Sage Assembly Hall.

It was a stream featuring the live feed of captured Martial prisoners. The sudden teleportation of Emperor Rui before those chained prisoners had caught Sage Marhan off guard. It had caught everybody off guard.

The air grew tense as an ominously bad feeling descended upon the atmosphere.

“What…” Sage Sehen’s tone was uncertain. “What is he doing?”

He simply stood before the prisoners from what they could see of the stream.

He simply stood before them and then—

“ARRGHGHHH!!! PLEASE! STOP! Not my Martial Path! Anything but my Martial Path!” “You were offered amnesty if you surrendered, but you chose not to.” His voice was chilling. “We will offer you no mercy.” “ARRRGHHHHH!”

“NOOOOOO!”

“RGGHGARGHHH!” The Martial Sages watched with horror as the prisoners contorted with horror, despair, and maddening misery in their eyes. The Emperor simply watched with a unmoved expression until the very end.

When Sage Marhan’s eyes widened with horror as he realized what was happening, a single thought flashed through his mind.

“Monster.”

And yet, the horrors had just begun.

All the Martial Sages of the alliance watched as the Emperor lightly muttered something under his breath, before gazing in a particular direction. His next words inspired true horror within the depths of their heart.

“Time to subjugate the Martial Sages.” WHOOSH

He disappeared into thin air in the feed of the news stream.

WHOOSH

He appeared before them in the real world, arriving right in front of Sage Marhan with a graceful step, his long black hair gently swaying with the motion. Chills crawled across the skin of the many gathered Martial Sages as they shifted eyes towards him.

They couldn’t sense his presence even as their eyes fell on his ethereal existence, as if he existed in a higher plane of reality. For a moment, they were all frozen.

For a moment, nobody moved.

The first to break through the frozen atmosphere was none other than Sage Sehen.

“A-ATTACK!” He unleashed a guttural cry as he threw a powerful attack, laced with all the materia prima he could muster. The last thing Sage Sehen saw before he died was his fist cleanly passing through the Emperor’s substance-less body as if he were a ghost.

STEP

In less than the blink of an eye, as if skipping through time itself, Rui arrived behind him.

In his hands was a beating heart.

BADUMP

BADUMP

BADUMP

…

THUD

The sound of Sage Sehen’s lifeless body striking the ground sent a shockwave through the hearts of each and every single person in the Sage Assembly Hall, breaking the shackles that paralyzed their minds as a single, horrifying realization dawned on them.

He hadn’t even activated his Martial Soul yet.

Sage Marhan gritted his teeth as he understood.

He understood that a fate worse than death awaited them if they didn’t kill him right then and there.

His Realms of power burst to life as a ferocious roar escaped him.

“ATTACK!!!”

RUMBLE!!!!!

The world shook violently as nearly three hundred Martial Sages leaped at Rui.