The Martial Unity

“What?!” Deputy Commander Wiles widened his eyes with shock. “You’re telling me that there’s an alien entity within Gaia and that it is responsible for the Epoch of Evolution and the Age of Tumult, as well as for the disappearance of the Panama Continent?”

Rui nodded with a serious expression, seated opposite the deputy commander in an isolated room. “I’m going to begin investigating and potentially confronting this alien entity. There’s an extremely high chance that it is going to be extremely dangerous. So I need the Evolutionary Army to cooperate with this matter extensively. I want to create a ‘shield’ from the cooperation of all seven civilizations in Gaia, coordinating their emergency deep energy absorption/mitigation systems for when the time comes, so that all of life may be spared.”

Commander Wiles sharpened his eyes as they flew around in thought. “…And yet you have provided no real evidence of anything that you say.”

Rui was entirely aware of that, of course. He couldn’t simply usher people to show them the manifold plant that the Kandrian Empire was in possession of, which would risk revealing the manifold to the others. So it was not possible for him to prove what he was saying to outsiders.

Thankfully, he didn’t have to do all that when he could just bribe them.

“We’ll give you a little negatron matter in exchange for your cooperation,” Rui casually added.

“Deal.” Deputy Commander Wiles shamelessly nodded.

Rui smiled wryly, getting up. “You haven’t changed at all, Wiles.”

“Don’t speak to me with such familiarity,” the man growled. “Those memories do not belong to you, and you are not Anthea.”

Rui shrugged uncaringly. “My team will get in touch with you about the details soon. I’ll be going now.”

“You’re… not going to do anything about the generation of miracles?” He asked with a cautious tone, clearly paranoid about his treasures. “I don’t hurt children,” Rui replied. “Ever. They’re adorable kids, even if they hate my guts.”

“…So you’re just going to let all of them reach maturity even if they are destined to be the most powerful force in the future, each aiming to take your head?” Deputy Commander Wiles demanded to know. “Like I said at the start.” Rui directed a pointed gaze at him. “You shouldn’t be too self-assured. Besides, I think this kind of thing is good for the true world.”

The deputy commander’s eyes widened. “…What?”

“Pressure, that is,” Rui continued. “It’s good for the civilizations of the true world to feel some pressure from the terrifying power that the Evolutionary Army will come to possess. It puts pressure on all of us to improve and grow stronger. To innovate, to train harder, to push one’s limits. These only happen when there is pressure. The true world is too prone to growing lethargic and lazy in its status quo. That is not good, in my opinion. So I want you to keep raising those kids and put a fire beneath everybody’s ass to get them to make drastic strides in their power.”

“The generation of miracles is… nothing more than a whetstone to you?” The Deputy Commander gritted his teeth. “Damn you, just how strong are you?”

Rui smiled, waving at him.

“That is what I seek to find out as well.”

WHOOSH

He disappeared, taking the wind out of the Wiles’ sail with him. WHOOSH

This time, he reappeared in the Kandrian Empire, at his royal chambers, where Bodhisattva Maitreyi and Amare guarded Ria like knights.

“Rui, you’re back.” She stood up with a hint of concern. “I take it… You haven’t found what you were looking for?”

“We did, but doing something about it will take more preparations than I suspected because of the location,” Rui replied knowingly, shifting his gaze towards Ria.

Instinctively, a warm smile emerged on his face at the sight of Ria. She slept as messily as her mother did, her limbs flung around, while she drooled on her pillow. He knelt by her side, gently kissing her head. It was still night in the Panama Continent, unfortunately. He had been hoping to sneak in a visit to her amid all of the things he was obligated to do. He wasn’t entirely sure if he would have an opportunity to meet her again until after the entire process was over.

“What do you intend to do now?” Amare asked with a serious tone of voice.

“Preparations, and then…” Rui’s ethereal eyes sharpened. “To solve this problem once and for all, one way or another. I will not allow the world that Ria lives in to face any threat of destruction.”

“Amitabha. May you be successful for the sake of every soul in the boundless cycle of reincarnation.”

Rui smiled. “Yeah. Reincarnation.”

He got up, directing a deep gaze at Amare.

She nodded at him wordlessly, earning a smile from him.

Then, he disappeared.

WHOOSH

“Gah!” Secretary Claris grew startled by his sudden appearance in his Royal Office. She glared at him. “Your Majesty, what I have told you about suddenly teleporting to the office like that?”

“…Sorry.”

“I keep telling you to teleport outside the door and come in like a regular person, do I not?”

“In my defense, this is urgent,” Rui replied, filling her in on everything that had happened and everything that he was up to.

Surprisingly, she wasn’t even that shocked by all the revelations.

“Ever since the Unfolding, I have become more amenable to believing anything.” She heaved a sigh. “Nothing will ever match how shaken I was by the revelation that there were six other continents outside of ours that we simply never found, for whatever reason.”

“Hm, fair enough.” Rui shrugged. “More importantly, I need you to arrange a meeting with NOVA immediately.”

“Meeting?” She widened her eyes. “You want to negotiate with that… thing?”

“We have no choice,” Rui heaved a sigh. “Unfortunately, we must make peace with NOVA. Otherwise, we will never be able to create the shield of civilizations to protect Gaia.”

She gazed at him with disbelief, clenching her fists.

“She killed your father.”